Nexus
by Shade Penn
Summary: TF:Prime/DMC crossover. Starts off in "Speed Metal." Even the smallest of connections can run deep. Though the mistake he thought this all was had started to turn into something Jack had never thought possible. A/J/KO
1. Chapter 1

**Preface**

* * *

><p>He was scared. Scared to his very spark-infused heart. He could feel two echoes of concern and worry in the back of his mind. He tried to reassure them, but nothing could stop the cold fear spreading through out his body. His blue bow had been snapped and he didn't have enough power in him to keep his trigger active.<p>

As his red eyes began to fade back to blue and his white hair was rapidly returning to its normal black hue, he stared as balefully as he could at the enemy that had reduced him to this mess.

Said enemy merely smirked and approached to take the black-haired teen's life.

Thinking back on it, the teen didn't regret anything. If given the chance, the only thing he'd change would be the circumstances he and _him_ met under. Despite the undesirable situation that _he_ had caused them both, the teen wouldn't have _her._

As the enemy took each step closer to him, the teen couldn't help but think about his last decision _should_ he be close to dying. He'd have to cut the bond himself. _They _would still have each other, they'd move on. Eventually.

He clenched his fists as he shakily stood. He was down, but he wasn't out yet damn it! If he was going down, he'd go down fighting. After all, he still had _one_ trick up his sleeve.

To think though; this had all started when he found out what he was.

_'Who would've thought?'_


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: This starts off about half-way through the TF:Prime Episode "Speed Metal." And I also tweeked Jack's involvement to fit into the story plot.

* * *

><p>Jack Darby had always figured he was normal. He had a normal job that he hated; a cool-if not over worrying-mom, and an amazing alien robot guardian.<p>

...Okay, maybe his life wasn't so normal. Though despite that, at least _he_ was normal, right?

Wrong. He never thought much of if, but he was more..._resilient_ than most-if not everyone he knew. Which wasn't many people sadly.

His cuts would heal faster than normal, maybe a few hours at best. And his most suspicious experience was when he was 7 and had fallen out of a tree with only a sprained wrist that healed in three days.

He did of course ask his mother, June, but she would just smile that sad smile and said he got it from 'him.'

At 13 he realized that the 'him' his mother made references to was his father. A father he never knew nor remembered. When Arcee had asked why he didn't have a father, he couldn't give a truthful answer becuse he didn't know the answer himself. "I don't know," was the best he could come up with.

Then the incident with the energon harvester happened and when he had come home late, his mother had stalked over to him, looking angry and scared at the same time. She must have been near hysterical because she had began to ask if he had seen or been attacked by any strange-looking creatures.

Since Jack couldn't say anything about the 'Bots or 'Cons, he had merely replied with, "I haven't seen any creatures that _you're_ talking about." June though looked visibly relieved at this answer.

Maybe it had been the stress of the experience he had, but what he said next made June freeze completely. "I wanna know what you're keeping from me."

June opened her mouth to protest, but the look in Jack's eyes made her pause and consider he options. "Alright, I'll tell you."

And she did.

To say that Jack had been shocked would be like saying the Arctic was just a little cold or that scraplets ate just a little metal; a gross understatement.

Not only did he find out what his father was, but what _he_ was. And what he was, was apparently only partly human.

When his mother had finished telling him everything, he didn't know what to feel.

Happy that his father was technically still alive. Angry that the guy had left them for power. Relieved that his mother had said he had cared about them. Or sad because he'd never get to know the guy because his father apparently couldn't get back on his own.

Jack suddenly wished as he was jerked around in Bumblebee's driver seat and being chased by a red 'Con that he had angst-ed in a normal destructive teenage way instead of accepting to race.

Jack held onto the seat and let out a small sigh of relief as 'Bee hid under a bridge. "I think we lost him 'Bee." he said quietly as saw Vince's car up ahead. "Oh you gotta be kidding me!"

"Darby!" Vince said angrily as he approached them while making fists.

"You have to get outta here, you win. Congratulations, now go." Jack said and made a shooing motion with his hand.

Vince slammed his hands down on Bumblebee's hood. "Now starter back up, loser, we're finishing this race. You don't wanna take it to the finish, fine, then we got something to settle here, right here, right now-ooh!" he yelled as he was grabbed by a giant metal hand.

Jack got out of Bumblebee's seat and raced up the side of the bridge to see the 'Con having already taken off. _'Not good.'_ he thought as a strange sense of guilt began to wash through him, along with fear. He looked back as 'Bee came driving up the side. "'Bee, he's getting away!" There was a series of beeps.

"I can't understand you!" Jack yelled frustated. "Look, I'm not Raf. Can't you just honk once for bad news and twice for good news?" He heard honking and saw Arcee, and Bulkhead driving up and transformed along with 'Bee.

Arcee put her hands on her hips and stared down at Jack. "Jack, we need to have little chat."

Jack waved one arm half-heartedly as he looked away. "Later, Arcee. Vince got snatched by that slick sports car 'Con."

"What would Knock Out want with a random human?" Arcee questioned.

"He probably mistoke Vince for Bumblebee's human friend." Jack pointed at himself. "I'm not even Bumblebee's human friend. It doesn't matter why he took him, Vince is in trouble!"

"Oh well, tough break for Vince." Bulkhead said indifferently.

Jack stared up in shock. "Bulkhead!"

"What? I hear the guy's a jerk." Bulkhead said.

"No arguement there." Jack agreed. "But the guy is also innocent. Vince doesn't deserve to get crushed by 'Cons."

Arcee stared at him for a moment before transforming back to vehicle -mode. "Hop on." she said flashing her head lights.

* * *

><p>Three Autobots and one 'human' were driving down the town street and stopped at a corner only to see Knock Out go driving past them. Jack stared after him and turned in that direction, the two other 'Bots following.<p>

Arcee pulled back a bit. "On your guard boys, could be a trap."

"Remember, no shooting." Jack reminded.

Arcee stopped as Bulkhead and Bumblebee went past her. "Speaking of safety, he's where you get off." she said and drove after her comrades as soon as Jack got off.

Jack took his helmet off and stared after her, the irratic feeling getting worse. He looked down at the ground and unnoticed to him, the rim of his iris' had turned red. His ears suddenly picked up an engine and metal clanging metal. He didn't know what possessed him to do it, but his feet were moving and he jumped on the 'Con cars hood, making Arcee jerk back from her place on the roof.

"Jack?" she yelled in disbelief.

Jack tried to smile, but had no reply without admitting 'my feet moved on their own.' And that sounded really crazy. He dug his nails into the hood with surprising force as Knock Out suddenly turned a corner and Arcee was thrown off. Jack looked back to see she had transformed and was following after them.

Jack then turned his attention to the unconcious redhead strapped in the passenger seat. He began to bang his fist against the windshield to try and break it, but all it got him was the hood lifting up, causing him to be sent rolling up the windshield and onto the roof.

"Oof!" he grunted as he fell through the sunroof and into the driver's seat. _'I'll take what I can get.'_ he thought and tried to pull the straps off Vince.

"I don't think so, flesh bag."

Jack felt the straps to the driver's seat wrap around him and pull him back against the seat, his arms pinned to his sides. He pulled his feet up and began kicking the steering wheel in an effort to get Knock Out to let go of him. "Let me go!" he growled, his iris's almost completely red.

"You want out, flesh bag? Fine." Knock Out hissed as he opened his driver side door and the straps around Jack threw the teen out with enough force for the buckle to leave a deep slash across his chest and for a piece of it to break off.

Jack let out a grunt of pain as he stopped rolling on down the road and felt his chest, cringing as he fingers came back bloody. "I hope this congeals quickly." he whispered. He winced from mild discomfort at the metal stuck inside his chest, but there were more pressing matters to deal with.

"Jack!" Such as Arcee's wrath. Jack staggered to his feet as the femme transformed into 'Bot-mode. "Are you insane? What were you thinking?-" she stopped as she saw the large, and most likely deep, gash along the teen's chest. "Jack..." she said in a softer tone. "Are you...?"

Jack waved it off. "I'm okay, it's not that deep." It felt wrong lying to Arcee, but he didn't want her to think he couldn't take are of himself.

Or that he was suicidal for the stunt he pulled by jumping on Knock Out.

Jack looked up as Optimus, who had the still unconcious Vince, walked over as 'Bee and Bulkhead arrived in vehicle-mode. He tried to apply pressure to his wound to slow down the bleeding while trying not to wince and hiss as he felt the metal lodged in his flesh. "Optimus, this was all my fault."

The Prime gave Jack a look, more specifically at the blood staining his shirt. "We must get this boy to safety immediately." he said. "Explanations can come later. From all of you."

* * *

><p>"Uh, what happened?"<p>

Jack barely looked away from the road so the redhead couldn't see the blood on his shirt as he answered. "Some guys jumped you under the bridge, they tossed you into their trunk-some kind of initiation."

"Really?" Vince asked blankly.

Jack looked up for a moment. "Uh yeah. I found you knocked out by the side of the road." he 'stopped' the car at the bridge where Vince's car was below and the redhead got out. "Look. I gotta be honest, after what I saw tonight, I'm thinking racing just isn't my thing."

Vince leaned down to peer into the car. "I hear ya Darby. Hard to win a race driving a pedal car!"

The gas pedal went down on its own and gassered away, leaving Vince coughing up fumes.

"Nice one, 'Bee." Jack chuckled lightly.

His mother probably wouldn't be too happy about his injury and being out so late. Though first he had to give his explanation to Optimus.

He really couldn't tell which one he dreaded more.

* * *

><p>Jacl clutched again at his chest once more before he took off his helmet and closed the garage door.<p>

"Jack..." June's voice floated through the air and made the teen freeze.

The teen turned his head to see his mother standing in the doorway with her arms crossed and a stern expression on her face. "Hey mom." he paused. "Do we have any tweezers in the first aid kit?"

June's eyes narrowed. "Why?" Jack fully turned around to face her and her hand flew to her mouth as she saw the blood. "Jack, were you attac-"

"Just had a pretty nasty accident." Jack said hastily. "And I'm pretty sure there's something stuck in here." he said quietly.

June nodded and led her son to the kitchen. She got the first aid kit out as Jack disgarded his shirt. It was pretty much useless now anyway. June cleaned around the wound and looked directly into her son's eyes. His completely _red_ eyes. She knew his hair would have been white if not for the reason he had yet to go into full trigger.

He had to die first, and he knew this too. She had told him so in her explanation the previous night.

"Jack, you already have red eyes, you need to finish the transformation." she said quietly. "I can give you enough sleeping pills so it'll be painless and I can finish working on the wound."

Jack was silent. He really didn't wanna die, but hopefully this would be the _only_ time he did die. At least for a very long time.

"I'll take the pills."

It didn't take long for Jack to die and for June to get the metal thing lodged in his chest out. It turned out to be a rather large piece of metal that had June wincing since it was covered in her son's blood.

No sooner when the metal was out did Jack's transfomation happen. His hair turned snow white, but his trigger form left June completely baffled and utterly amazed.

A strange light emitted from the wound and almost instantly was his entire body(sans his face and hair) covered in gleaming, white metallic armour. A mouth guard covered the bottom half of his face to complete the look.

To be truthful, she had expected something insect-like, not 'sci-fi-ish.' She glanced down at the blood covered metal she had pulled out of the teen. Could the fact that he had been in very intimate contact with a metallic substance change the trigger form for him? It was also a miracle he had only looked mildly uncomfortable instead instead of screaming in pain from the metal.

When Jack had finally 'came back to life' as it were, he opened his normal blue eyes and saw his mother's stupified expression.

"So, did my trigger form look cool?"

* * *

><p>"So Jack, do you have time for that ride?"<p>

Jack stopped just short of Arcee and turned to face Sierra, his helmet under his arm. His face lit up briefly before his expression fell. "I'm sorry Sierra. I can't right now."

Sierra looked mildly disappointed. "No problem." she turned away. "I guess I'll just see you around."

Arcee started up and drove up to Jack. "Hop on."

Jack stared down at her in surprise. "Whoa, really?"

"Just this once." Arcee said sternly.

Jack's face lit up again, though his ride with Sierra, he couldn't help but notice that there was something very wrong with this picture.

He didn't feel any elation like he thought he would at finally catching his crushes attention. Instead he just felt empty.

* * *

><p>AN: Probably should clear a few things up.

1: As said in the top A/N, Jack's involvement was tweeked to fit into the story plot.

2: Why did Knock Out toss Jack? Simple, he already had a hostage and didn't see the point of having another one. Plus it was payback for Jack scratching up his finish. So the gash he gave Jack was intentional, just not the part where a piece of him broke off and got lodged in Jack's chest.

3: Jack's trigger form. June's theory about the metal changing the trigger form was right, but exactly _what_ it did will be revealed later on.


	3. Chapter 3

Was it wrong for him to feel relieved and happy that the ride with Sierra was a short one? He couldn't even blush at the double entendre of what he had just thought.

Was it also wrong to feel more at home with aliens than with other people?

No, his mother often told him that he'd gotten that trait from his father, who was the complete opposite of his brother.

And wasn't it strange to know that he apparently had an uncle? Still, it made Jack question just _how_ much of an opposite his father was to his apparent uncle.

"Jack?"

Heh, he'd almost honestly forgotten about his guardian. "Yeah, Arcee?"

"You're very quiet. Are you still in any pain?" Arcee asked in concern.

Almost subconsciously, Jack placed a hand on his chest. "Nah. I'm alright." Though once he'd seen how big that metal shard had been, he'd been morbidly surprised that all he had felt was mild discomfort instead of searing pain. "I'm, uh, going inside now." he mumbled as he went into the house and remembered how his mother said how much he looked like his father with white hair.

It made him wonder _what_ the guy exactly looked like.

Dimly aware of his surroundings, he found himself in front of a cabinet in the living room and pulled the bottom book out. Its clean cover and peculiar placement spoke of it being looked through often, but that no one else was supposed to see it.

Jack was surprised to find that his breath had become laboured and his hands shook as he held the book. _'Get a grip Jack,'_ he told himself, '_this is just a photo album. It's not gonna explode if I open it.'_

But that was just it. He _was_ afraid to open it. To see a picture of the guy and build up a false image of his father, and if he ever _did_ meet the guy and he wasn't what he expected...he would be severely disappointed. Jack took a steadying breath and opened the book. The first picture he saw was of his mother, who looked younger, and a young man who was pale in complexion, with icy blue eyes that matched Jack's own, and slicked back white hair.

Jack came to the conclusion that _this_ was his father.

As he looked through the rest of the pictures, he soon found a picture of a baby-fied version of him. If he had to guess from the white ceilings and his tired-looking mother, this photo was more than likely taken after he was born.

...Wait. He frowned thoughtfully as he stared at the picture.

What names were on his birth certificate? Jack knew his father's name, but June steadfastly refused to mention a surname. Even when she had been explaining who his uncle and grandfather were. Hell, she only slipped _once_ by calling his uncle 'Dante.'

And it was too much of a coincidence for Jack to assume that specific name was also his middle name by chance.

Though he'd have to remember to search for that certificate sometime in the near future.

* * *

><p>"Okay, this is just plain weird." Jack muttered as he walked through the dim streets of Jasper, Nevada, which was now the eerie reminiscent of a ghost town.<p>

How did he get here? He had just gone to sleep only thirty minutes ago! What was this place?

"Ah, good questions." A voice that sounded a slightly muffled and tinny version of his said in appraisal.

Jack looked over in the voice's direction and found himself gaping. Coolly leaning against a lamp post was a teenager that looked just like him, only a lot more robotic-looking. The stranger was covered in gleaming white metal armour and wearing a mouth guard, his tanned face framed by white hair, and two deep red eyes stared back at him.

"Who are you?" Jack blurted out.

The stranger looked at him in amusement. "I'm you."

Jack stared in disbelief. "How can you be-" he paused and his eyes widened. "Wait, are you my inner demon?"

Though it was impossible for Jack to tell, he was pretty sure the armoured figure was smirking. "That's right. Though since technically I don't have my own form, I took on that of our trigger." he gestured to his armour covered body.

"Wow, I look cool like that." Jack said with surprise. "Now, are you going to answer my questions?"

The 'demon' nodded. "You are asleep, so you can come here during unconsciousness-whether you want to or not."

"Yes, but where exactly is 'here?'" Jack persisted.

"Our soul's plane." His inner demon said simply.

"So this is my-" The demon shook his head.

"Not 'my,' 'our.'" he replied. "I don't necessary count as an individual being as I am merely a manifestation of you in this form to speak with you more...'face-to-face' as you could say. The 'our' I'm talking about is him." he pointed in a seemingly random direction, but Jack could just make out a dark humanoid shape in the distance.

Though it was too dark over there to see any definite detail.

"Well, why are we here?" Jack asked as his inner demon walked over to him.

The demon placed a hand on Jack's shoulder and began to glow. "We're connected to him of course." he answered cryptically before he disappeared.

Jack looked down at himself and found that _he_ was now in trigger form. _'Okay, this is cool.'_ he thought looking at the armour.

The distant figure, obviously attracted by the glow, moved close and Jack could finally see their details, and knew that despite the humanoid shape, they were definitely _not_ human.

Jack stared in startled shock at the human-sized red 'Con. "Oh hell, not _you."_

Knock Out began circling Jack. "You're Cybertronian-looking in appearance, but you also resemble a human. So what are you?" he mused.

Jack's red eyes glared balefully at the Decepticon. "That's really none of your business." he hissed and then paused. "Do you even know who I _am?_"

"Your vocal patterns match the one Arcee called 'Jack.'" Knock Out smirked haughtily. "And here I thought I killed you. I suppose from your current appearance that you're not _such_ a fragile fleshy."

Jack growled. "I know _you're_ behind this connection somehow!" he didn't know _how_ exactly, but something was telling him that this mess was all the 'Con's fault.

"Connection?" Knock Out repeated with a frown, obviously not liking what that meant. "Then why don't I just take you out to break it!" his frown went even deeper when he tried to use his energon prod on Jack and it wouldn't work.

Jack grinned behind his mouth guard as he figured out the reason he couldn't use his weapon. "We're _connected_ in some way you dumb aft! I highly doubt you'd be able to hurt me with a weapon in here." he said mockingly.

Knock Out stared at the prod before discarding it and crouched. "Then why don't I just do this the old-fashioned way?" he questioned before lunging at Jack.

Jack barely managed to dodge as he got into his own crouch. "Oh, it's on now, Red!"

The teen didn't know what had brought on this sudden anger. Maybe it was the rage he felt toward Knock Out for causing this horrible situation. Or the built up stress that had no proper outlet until now, but there was one thing he did know as he fought.

It felt_ so good_ to finally vent.

Despite the numerous hits Jack was getting and dishing out, he couldn't stop grinning. "This is so much _fun."_

Clearly this brief lapse in sanity was the result of still trying to get used to everything happening to him at once. Hopefully it was temporary.

Hopefully...

Knock Out nearly stumbled at the exclamation. "Fun?" He for one did not find anything fun about getting all dented up.

Jack used this distraction to his advantage and tackled him, knocking them both to the ground. "Yeah, _fun._ Like kicking your aft is fun, Red." He had yet to actually register that he wasn't using human the human term for 'ass' and switching it out for 'aft.'

Suddenly though, when Jack's heart came directly over Knock Out's spark, there was a strange stream of light tendrils connecting between them and they both froze. They were both then experiencing specific parts of the previous night. Knock Out experienced the cold weight of death as Jack had died, and Jack was experiencing the 'cosmetic punishment' Starscream had given Knock Out.

Just as sudden as it happened, it ended and the streams disappeared, but both organic and 'Con hadn't moved an inch.

"_What,_" Jack finally gasped out and leapt off Knock Out like the 'Con had burned him, "did you do?"

"What did I do?" Knock Out repeated. "What did _you_ do?"

"I didn't do anything!" Jack hissed. He frowned to himself when he saw the dents repairing themselves on both his and Knock Out's armour. "That's weird, only I should be healing."

"What was that?" Knock Out asked distractedly.

"Nothing!" Jack snapped with renewed hostility.

They returned to glaring at each until the lamp post light flickered out and the apparent 'sun' began to rise. Jack assumed it was morning in real time too and looked over at the 'Con distastefully.

"Look, I don't know about you, but I'm ignoring this _connection_ we supposedly have." he spat.

Knock Out crossed his arms and looked over at Jack with equal disdain. "Oh, I fully intend on ignoring this-and if I end up here again, you as well." he added haughtily.

Jack nodded curtly. "Fine with me, Red."

As the light of the 'sun' cascaded over the soul plane, both 'Con and organic had vanished; both secretly hoping they never had to see each other again.

* * *

><p>Jack blearily opened his blue eyes as the blinding rays of sunlight shone through his window and onto his face. He got up and trekked down the hall to the bathroom.<p>

He abruptly stopped at the mirror and stared at his reflection with disbelief. He'd gone to sleep last night wearing a bandage around his chest so he never noticed it, but he had to rub his eyes to make sure he was fully awake and actually seeing this.

Where the gash had been was now covered with metal.

He hesitantly touched it, but it didn't hurt or make him cringe. It was strangely warm and smooth, the white metal sticking out against his tan skin like a sore thumb.

He'd bet anything that this is where the metal that made up his trigger would be coming from.

Still, it was the coolest-looking, as well as the weirdest, scar he'd ever seen-let alone gotten.

He frowned slowly when the memory of _how_ he got it came back to mind and he suddenly felt the need to shower. Twice.

30 minutes later, he entered the garage, all thoughts of a certain Decepticon slipping from his thoughts as soon as he saw his guardian.

* * *

><p>"Optimus, I believe we have a situation." Ratchet said looking at the monitor screen.<p>

"What is it, Ratchet?" The Autobot asked walking over to the medic.

"The sensors are picking up a Decepticon signal right over Arcee's!" Ratchet replied.

"Is it possible to identify this signal?" Optimus asked in concern.

"Unfortunately I can't get a clear reading because of some kind of strange interference. But I can only be sure it's Decepticon in origin." Ratchet said.

"I see. I shall inform Arcee of this and tell her to be on guard and shall comm. Bulkhead and Bumblebee to provide back up." Optimus said gravely. "Is there anything informative about this signal?"

"Just one; it just, well, _appeared_. Very suddenly I might add."

* * *

><p>Arcee was bored. She'd never admit that though; it was just that she was forced to sit still for a longer period of time than she would have liked as Jack worked at his job at K.O Burger.<p>

Interestingly enough, he shuddered almost minutely when he saw the sign and hissed "Red" under his breath.

She had merely assumed this was some troubling co-worker he was referring to such hostility to.

_:Optimus to Arcee. Come in, Arcee.:_

_:Arcee here, sir.:_

_:Ratchet has detected a Decepticon signal in your immediate vicinity. I have dispatched Bumblebee and Bulkhead to provide backup.: _Optimus said.

_:I don't need back up to take care of one 'Con though.: _Arcee replied.

_:I am taking precautions with this one because of the unusual nature of the signal. Be on your guard, Optimus out.:_

Arcee subtly moved her rear-view mirrors. How could a 'Con be in the area without her noticing or it trying to slag her?

Either this was a new 'Con or-yeah, it was definitely a newbie.

The door to the fast-food establishment opened and Jack came out, his expression stormy. "I'm on break." he said answering the unasked question, his face softening just slightly when he looked at her.

"What's the matter? You seem...angry." Arcee observed.

Jacks' back straightened. "It's nothing." he said unconvincingly. He slowly blinked as he saw Bulkhead and Bumblebee go driving by. "Is there anything going on that _I_ should know?"

"It's nothing you need to worry about." Arcee replied. If a 'Con _did_ show up she wanted to make sure Jack actually stayed put this time.

She didn't want a repeat of what had happened the last time he didn't listen.

Speaking of which...

"How's your wound healing?"

If possible, Jack's eyes grew even darker. "It's...getting better."

Though from the way he paused, it sounded more like he was trying to hide something from her.


	4. Chapter 4

As soon as Jack had seen the sign, he unwittingly thought of Red (he absolutely _refused_ to call him by his name). His mood only worsened when the other teens he knew from school went out of their way to make his job more difficult.

Then again, he was the 'loser' after all to them.

At least with Red they had come to some sort of grudging agreement in this most undesirable situation that he never wanted to be in. Still, it was a fair condition. They leave each other alone and pretend they _weren't_ connected.

Though Jack remained firm that this was all _Red's_ fault.

Whoa. Wait. Did Jack really think being connected to a Decepticon was better than being harassed at work?

No, he told himself, it's just the thought of leaving him alone that's better.

When break finally came for him, he was ready to punch someone. Seeing Arcee made him calm down enough to speak. "I'm on break."

"What's the matter? You seem...angry." Jack really wished the tone in her voice was concern.

Jack straightened up. "It's nothing." There was _no way_ he was saying anything about Red, his secret, _or_ his 'scar.' Distractingly, he noticed both Bulkhead and Bumblebee driving by and blinked owlishly. "Is there anything I should know?"

"It's nothing you need to worry about." Arcee replied. "How's your wound healing?" she asked abruptly.

Jack knew his eyes got darker and it took everything he had not to reach toward his chest. He couldn't say _anything_; he reminded himself...it just wouldn't be fair. "It's...getting better."

But even to his own ears it sounded like a bad lie.

So trying to bring back even a small sliver of normalcy, Jack reached into his jean pocket and took out his iPod and pressed 'play.'

He spent the rest of his break listening to the sound of his music.

* * *

><p>"This is...incredibly impossible." Knock Out muttered as he was literally examining his armour under a microscope.<p>

All the hideously deep scratches he had gotten and had yet to spend hours getting rid of were completely gone! He looked just like he did _before_ the whole racing business had happened. He had then remembered what the organic said-it was cemented in his processor upon seeing the clearly _not_ human attributes, that the organic wasn't human either.

_"That's weird, only I should be healing."_

If accelerated healing had been the organic's ability, then how had _he_...?

Which led him to his current experiment.

He had just painfully (for him anyway) scratched his newly healed arm and watched in astonishment as it slowly healed itself.

It was like whatever caused the organic to live through the slash he left on his chest and being dumped on the road to die had allowed Knock Out to heal quickly.

This gave him a strong suspicion as to _what_ this 'connection' was.

He suddenly heard a whispering voice in his processor that sounded just like the organic he was 'connected' too.

It was low, but he could just make out the words.

_"I believe that you'll always be here,  
>'Cause you promised a life with no fear,<br>Please don't break my ideals,  
>And say what was fake was always real..."<em>

The Decepticon medic _nearly_ laughed when he realized his- no, not _his-_ _the_ organic was _singing_. Pretty good too, he'd admit, but this only strengthened his suspicion.

_'Though I can't help but wonder what he got from _me.'

* * *

><p>"Seriously, what's wrong?" Jack asked his brow knitted together with concern as Arcee gave off an almost agitated air as they arrived at the base.<p>

"Seriously?" Arcee repeated and 'sighed.' "Alright. I didn't want you to freak out earlier, but Ratchet had picked up a 'Con signal that had been in our immediate vicinity."

Jack's eyes widened. "So that's why 'Bee and Bulkhead were there?" Arcee nodded. "Did they catch whoever it was?"

"No, they signal disappeared just before we left, so I assume that they took off." Arcee replied.

"Jack!" A female voice yelled.

Jack looked over as Miko came jogging over. "Yeah?"

"Hello? Band practice!" Miko said annoyed.

Jack inwardly groaned. "You're really serious about that?"

"Yes!" Miko looked really annoyed now and dragged Jack off to the far edge of the hangar to where Raf was sitting with his laptop, and Jack saw the blue femme shake her head in amusement and left the room. "So Raf, you find any songs we can play?" she asked the 12 year old.

"All of them involve singing." Raf replied.

Miko slumped. "Great, where are we gonna find a singer?"

"Uh, I can sing." Jack said, his cheeks tinting red. It was a secret only because he thought people would laugh and say he sucked at it.

Miko looked at him, her eyes bright. "Really? That's great! Here, take a look at these videos."

"Whoa!" Jack nearly lost his balance as Miko pulled him over to look at the screen. Jack wondered not for the first time if Miko manhandled _everyone_.

Shaking his arm free, he scrolled down the screen and came to a song called 'Smile.' He was sure a song with a title like that was a happy song, right?

As an electric guitar solo started up, and a stage light appeared to show a pretty young woman with short dark hair pulled back into a ponytail and two locks framing her face. She was wearing a bright yellow scarf around her neck, an orange skirt, a blue shirt with cut-off shoulders, and long white boots.

All-in-all, she looked the part of a female retro pop star.

When Jack heard the voice, he paled as he connected the dots.

_"Smile though your heart is aching_  
><em>Smile even though it's breaking<em>  
><em>When there are clouds in the sky, you'll get by<em>  
><em>If you smile through your fear and sorrow<em>  
><em>Smile and maybe tomorrow<em>  
><em>You'll see the sun come shining through for you..."<em>

This...this is...

_"Light up your face with gladness_  
><em>Hide every trace of sadness<em>  
><em>Although a tear may be ever so near<em>  
><em>That's the time you must keep on trying<em>  
><em>Smile, what's the use of crying? <em>  
><em>You'll find that life is still worthwhile<em>  
><em>If you just smile..."<em>

"My mom." Jack whispered to himself, but Miko and Raf both heard him.

"Dude, that's your mom?" Miko asked in disbelief. "Wow, before your mom was a mom, she was cool."

"I believe from the date of the video that she _already_ was a mom."

_"That's the time you must keep on trying_  
><em>Smile, what's the use of crying? <em>  
><em>You'll find that life is still worthwhile<em>  
><em>If you just smile."<em>

"Jack, you better be a good singer, 'cause if you suck compared to this, I'll never let you live it down." Miko said with a mischievous smile that promised to go through with the threat.

Jack felt his irritation build as she listed off all the things she would do if he failed. Like sign him up for the school talent show or worse...actually _tell_ people he sucked at it. He didn't mean for it to be so loud, or so vicious, but he just wanted her to stop talking. "Shut the frag up!"

Miko's expression was like a deer caught in the headlights, her eyes wide with disbelief. "Did you just tell me to shut up?" she accused.

"Did you just speak Cybertronian?" Raf asked adjusting his glasses, his eyes also wide with disbelief.

"I...I was just-_still am_ really angry right now." Jack mumbled, though his irritation had yet to disappear. He heard thunderous footsteps and all the Autobots came running in, guns blazing.

* * *

><p>After Miko had dragged Jack off, Arcee went to the control room to give her report of the 'stake out' as it were. "There was no 'Con. Are you <em>sure<em> you picked up a Decepticon signal?" she asked the medic.

"Of course I'm sure!" Ratchet replied looking affronted. "But I was unable to identify it due to interference from something else."

"Interference?" Arcee repeated frowning and the computer suddenly started beeping.

Ratchet looked over it and almost let out what could be a choked gasp. "This can't be! The signal from before is back and it's in the base!"

"But where?" Bumblebee beeped.

"Shut the frag up!" An angry voice screamed.

"Well, that answers that question." Bulkhead said rather calmly.

A cold feeling came over Arcee's spark. "Wait, isn't that the direction that kids are in?"

In less than a klik, every one of the 'Bots were racing to the hangar; Arcee had the front as the memory of Jack clutching his bleeding chest came up in her processor. He had no idea how terrifying it had been for her to think of losing someone else.

_'That's not going to happen. Not if I can help it.'_ she thought.

When they all charged into the hangar, they were met with three unharmed humans, two wide-eyed, and the third looking irritated.

"Where's the 'Con?" Arcee asked, optics shifting around.

"What 'Con?" Jack muttered. "We haven't seen _anyone_ in here."

"Then why do you two look so stunned?" Bumblebee beeped looking at Raf.

"I told Miko to shut up." Jack answered instead, surprising everyone by doing this.

"About time _someone_ did." Ratchet grumbled, earning a disapproving look from Optimus.

"Wait, you _understood_ what Bumblebee was saying?" Arcee asked and Jack nodded, looking a little confused. "Were you also the one who swore?" she asked a bit more suspiciously.

Jack's eyes lit with recognition, like he'd done something wrong, and drew back, his face growing pale. "Yeah, I guess I might have." he said looking very guilty of _something_. "I don't even know where I heard the word 'frag' from."

All the 'Bots looked at Ratchet. "What?" he asked defensively. "I don't swear in front of younglings." he looked down at his scanner. "And the signals gone again."

"How would it even be possible for a 'Con to get in here? They don't even _know_ where this base is!" Bulkhead stated.

"Maybe they can go through walls, or turn invisible, or..." Miko started to ramble.

"Miko..." Jack growled warningly, a slowly returning look of annoyance coming over his face.

Ratchet's scanner beeped again and this made him look between the sensor and Jack with some disbelief. He suddenly knelt down and got very close to Jack to take scans of him.

"Personal space!" Jack growled shifting back with a scowl.

Ratchet ignored him and stared at the readings he got. "This is impossible!"

"What is it, Ratchet?" Optimus asked.

"My scans of Jack match the Decepticon signal that keeps coming up, strange interference and all." Ratchet replied.

"What does this mean? Does Jack have some sort of tracer on him?" Arcee asked. "'Cause I'm sure I would have notice it."

"To be blunt," Ratchet started and decided to just get it over with, "the scans show that Jack _is_ a Decepticon."


	5. Chapter 5

Everyone was floored by the revelation of Jack 'being' a Decepticon. This concept was completely absurd though and Arcee wasn't so restrained from voicing thing fact.

"Ratchet, Jack's not a Decepticon! This has to be a mistake." she said.

"There's no mistake, my scanners are never wrong." Ratchet replied evenly. "His optics sharpened as he looked at Jacks. "do you know what could have caused this?"

If possible, Jack got paler. "N-no. I don't know."

"Keep in mind boy that I have a built in lie detector." Ratchet replied coolly.

Jack gulped and gave the other two humans a furtive glance. "Uh, it was when I tried to save Vince myself. Re-Knock Out had trapped me in the driver seat, so I began kicking the steering wheel so he'd let me go. He tossed me out, but not before leaving that gash across my chest. Though what I forgot to mention was that a piece of the buckle broke off and got loddged in the wound." his voice got very quiet as he finsihed his explanation.

"You mean you spent almost an hour with a metal shard loddged so close to your heart? You could have died!" Arcee exclaimed.

"But I didn't!" Jack retorted hastily and winced when Ratchet looked at him suspiciously. "_I really_ don't wanna talk about it anymore." he said with another glance at Miko and Raf.

Clearly Jack didn't want to say anything with his friends there, so Optimus intervened.

"I believe it's time our young friends should be returning home." he said.

Jack sent Prime the most grateful look he'd ever given anyone and mouthed, 'Thank you.'

Once Miko and Raf left with their guardians, Ratchet rounded on Jack, looking like he'd found a particularly interesting specimen. "Now talk, boy."

"I can't tell you everything-even I don't understand how it could've happened, but somehow, whatever _did_ happen connected me with _him."_ Jack said somewhat flushed. It may have been only three 'Bots present, but that was still one-to-many for him. "Last night, when I went to sleep, I ended up in a strange place that looked like a much more...desolate-version of the town, and Re-Knock Out was there too. He wasn't so happy about this connection thing either."

Jack risked a glance up. Arcee was looking at him in open concern, Ratchet looked incredulous, and Optimus looked pensive. "See, this is why I didn't want to say anything; you think I'm crazy, don't you?"

"Jack, in this place you were in, did anything happen?" Optimus asked.

Jack looked away and scratched his head. "Actually, R-Knock Out and I tried to kill each, though it didn't work. When I managed to tackle R-Knock Out the ground...something happened. I don't know how, but I _felt_ and _saw_ what happened after that _incident._" he stressed certain words to make his point, and it no one needed a clearer descripton to what night Jack was referring to.

"But that's impossible, for that to happen you'd have to be-" Ratchet abruptly stopped himself.

"I'd have to be what?" Jack demanded. He knew it wasn't fair to demand an answer. After all, he had his own secrets, but that was out of courtesy to his mother. She had told him everything, and it wouldn't be fair if he coudn't tell _her_ everything.

When had his life gotten so complicated?

"I have some research to do, you should take the boy home, Arcee." Ratchet said ignoring Jack's question completely.

Jack made an attempt to repeat the question again, but the look Arcee gave him silenced his attempt. Right, no need to push his luck. "I need to get home anyway. My mom's not gonna be very happy if I'm late again."

Still, the 'what' remained on his mind all through the ride home.

* * *

><p>"Cutting it close, aren't you, Jack?"<p>

Jack froze as he looked up to the garage door way to see his mom. "Um, I made it. That's what matters, right?"

June's features softened. "I just want to make sure you're safe." her eyes suddenly lit up. "And I think now's the ideal time to give this to you."

"Give me what?" Jack asked curiously.

"Come one, I'll show you." June gestured for her son to follow and led him to the attic. She looked around for a lightswitch and then went to retrieve a wide retangular box. "You're father told me to give this to you should you awaken your inner demon."

_''Should' being the operative word.'_ she silently thought.

Jack accepted the box and placed it on the floor. He got on his knees and opened it to reveal...

"A bow?" he questioned incredulously and lifted out of the box a blue bow with white markings on winding on it.

"Yes. A bow." June confirmed. "It's special in the way it can transform into a sword."

Jack's eyes widened with interest as he looked over the bow in a new light. "Really? How?"

"Vergil told me the way to change it was to call out it's name; Fubuki, and say, transform for it to turn into a sword." June said, half surprising Jack by her calling his father by his name.

It was one of the few times she actually said it at all.

"Fubuki?" Jack repeated, blinking at the foreign name.

June nodded. "It means 'blizzard.' Very appropriate from what he told me what it was suppose to do."

"What's it do?" Jack asked curiously.

June smiled a little sadly. "It freezes anything it hits. Shooting magically appearing arrows by pulling back the string on the bow. And by stabbing through something in it's sword form."

"Wow." Jack was completely awed. "This is pretty powerful then." his eyes were drawn back to the box and the two pieces of paper in it. "Hey, what are these?"

June walked behind him and once she the papers she made an annoyed sound. "So _this_ is where he hid them on me. Smart move." she admmited grudgingly.

These...these were his birth certificate and his parent's marriage certificate. "'Jackson Dante Darby-Sparda' wait, if that's my other last name, then why don't any other documents have that for me _or_ you?"

"Safety precautions." June said grimly. "There are a lot of demons out there that _hate_ the name Sparda and would jump at the chance to kill one. Esspecially if that someone is an inexperienced teenager. That, and your uncle probably only added more fuel to the fire with that _job_ of his."

Jack nodded with the same grimness June had. "So everything you've done; the ridiculous curfew, the secrets, that was to protect me?" he felt truly touched that his mother wold do so much for him.

"Of course. And I'm not letting you leave this house unless you promise to always take that weapon with you." she said sternly.

Jack smiled and placed a hand over his heart. "I promise."

* * *

><p>"This place again." Jack mutterd as he appeared in the soul plane, only this time he wasn't in trigger form.<p>

He walked down the street and caught sight of a 'music store.' He shrugged. _'What the hell.'_ he thought and went into the 'store.'

Jack went over to th displays ad realized that these were all songs that _he_ liked and other songs that he didn't recognize in Cybertronian and how did he know what it sad? "I can just blame Red for this." he muttered and picked up a 'Muse' album. He put the CD in the player and put on a pair of headphones.

_"Who cares for the life we've earned?_  
><em>Someone's sold all the truth you've yearned,<em>  
><em>Remember when we used to shine<em>  
><em>And had no fear or sense of time<em>  
><em>When it creeps up on you..."<em>

Almost unconciously, Jack started to sing along.

_"You can't cry now there's nothing to feel_  
><em>No one's noticed our loneliness<em>  
><em>Remember when you used to tease<em>  
><em>And made us scream eternal joy..."<em>

A new voice suddenly cut in and Jack almost choked on the air.

_"I believed that you'll always be here_  
><em>'Cause once you promised a life with no fear<em>  
><em>Please don't break my ideals<em>  
><em>And say what's fake was always real..."<em>

Head phones forgottten, Jack looked over at the door to see a red 'con smirking widely at him. _"You!_ We had a deal!"

"Yeah, that's, the thing about us Decepticons, we _lie_." Knock Out said it in a way which made Jack feel incredibly stupid. "Now, I believe you have some explaining to do, _sparkmate."_ he twisted the word up like a curse.

"Sparkmate? What's that?" Jack asked confused.

"Apparently when I tried to kill you, something happened to give us this connection in the first place." Knock Out said and saw that the confusion on Jack's face hadn't went away. He let out a melodramatic sigh and rolled his opitcs. "We _spark-bonded_. In your earth terms it means 'married,' though our 'souls as you could call them are fused together. _That_clear enough for you?" he asked sarcastically.

Jack's confusion twisted up into shock, anger and disgust. He couldn't believe it, he was _married_ essentially to _Knock Out_. He was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he didn't notice just how _close_ the Decpetion had gotten to him until he felt two hands gripping his upper arms. He jerked his head up and stared directly into a pair of red opitcs. "What are you doing?"

"Like I already said; I want some answers, and this is just the best way to get it." Knock Out explained rather plainly, and then swiftly, and none-to-gently, pulled Jack directly against his chest plate. More specifically, his heart and spark being in direct alignment; this causing the strange light tendrils from before to reappear.

Jack felt a strange sensation. Pin pricks of pleasure shooting thorugh his body, this feeling much more intenes than the last time where he had only felt cold. "W-what is this?" he asked as a pleasant haze began clouding his vision.

Knock Out didn't answer as he had his optics shut in absolute concentration as he foused on finding the information he wanted and _not_ letting himself sucumb to the same pleasure Jack was feeling. As he dug deeper into their mockery of a bond, he was met with no reisistence except for some strange other prescence.

Thoug as soon as he saw the memory of June explaining to Jack about _what_ he was did Knock Out know _exactly_ what that prescence was.

And upon getting what he wanted, the red 'Con pulled Jack away with a very complacent look on his faceplate. "I know what you are, _half-breed._"

The cloudy look in Jack's eyes suddenly vanished and fear was now in them. "You-you saw?" he asked breatlessly.

He didn't know what was worse; that experience actually being good or Knock Out _knowing what he was._

"I hate you so much." Jack said as he glared at the smirking 'Con and pushed him away.

"Believe me, the feeling's mutual." A sly grin. " Though you seemed to have enjoyed yourself from what I can tell."

Jack snarled and wished he knew _how_ to activate his trigger form. Unfortunetly though, all he could do as a retort was walk away.


	6. Chapter 6

"Jack, are you okay?" Arcee asked as she saw Jack walk into the garage with an oddly blank look on his face.

Jack stared at Arcee for a long moment. "You _knew_, didn't you?" he asked in a detached tone.

"Knew what?" Arcee asked.

"Knew that the connection I had with Re-Knock Out was a spark-bond." Jack said, his voice starting to take on a cold edge.

Arcee was rendered momentarily speechless. "How did you find that out?"

"Knock Out _told_ me last night." Jack answered, his voice colder than ice now. "It's Saturday, you can go to the base using your hologram, I need some time to myself." he said turning around.

"Jack, you need to understand that..." Arcee called, but Jack held up his hand, not bothering to turn around.

"Save it, Arcee. This is something I have to think about on my own since none of you bothered to tell me that I'm apparently _married_ to a 'Con now." he spat, his voice sounding more betrayed and hurt than angry. "I'm really trying not to lose my temper, so please don't follow me until I can calm down." his voice just sounded dead now.

It was either get angry or bottle it up. And Jack didn't wanna go _insane_ again. Soul plane _or_ real life.

He closed the door behind him walked over to the guitar case for his bow; his mother having gotten the idea from his uncle to carry his bow around in it. Along with several spare shirts too. He shouldered the strap and headed for the front door. "Going for a walk, mom. And don't worry, got my 'guitar' with me."

* * *

><p>During his <em>walk<em>, Jack had time to get his temper reigned in, or at least some of it. On the one hand, he was still pissed that 'Bots hadn't told him something so vitally important to him.

On the _other_ hand, why should he expect them to tell him anything when he's keeping secrets of his own?

One of which Knock Out already knew now. He's slightly glad though that the 'Con only wanted answers and didn't go digging around for the location of the Autobot base.

Jack suddenly stopped as a weird and unpleasant smell came to his nose. He remembered his mom telling him that he could apparently _smell_ when other demons were around.

So being cautious, Jack furtively looked around. The area was isolated, secluded and devoid of any people. It eerily reminded him of his soulplane, but pushed that thought aside. The last thing he wanted was for Red to suddenly appear.

Jack used his new found sense of smell to try and locate where it was coming from, but the scent was all...around him.

_Shit._ He was surrounded.

"Listen, whatever you are, I'm not afraid of you." he really hoped the bravado he was putting up was working.

The only answer he recieved was a low growling and he saw the ugliest creatures he'd ever seen. They were monstrous, wore what looked like burlap sacks, and their hands were sickles.

_'No way am I getting near those things.'_ he thought and quickly got his bow out, the case dropping to the ground.

_'You have to.'_

Jack nearly faltered, but recognized the voice as his 'own.' _'So nice of your to talk to me.'_ he thought sarcastically.

_'Shut up, I'm trying to help you so you don't do anything stupid and get us killed.'_ his inner demon snapped. _You can't use the bow because there's not enough space-so you have to use the sword form. Just avoid the sickles and you'll be fine.'_

_'Should?'_ Jack repeated, but there was no reply. "Fubuki: transform." he muttered and the bow changed into a katana with a blue handle and a gleaming white blade with icy blue spiderweb cracks running along it.

As if taking this as an invitation, the Scarecrows all charged at him. Jack immediaterly took to the defensive, blocking or dodging the slashes they took at him. He _knew_ he couldn't keep being on the defensive forever. Either someone would hear or-

"Ahh!" Yeah, he'd get cut. "Frag." he cursed as he felt his back sting and his fingers came back bloody from the slash the Scrarecrow had given him. His eyes began to take on a red tint, all the careful control on his anger slipping. Now he didn't care about not getting angry anymore.

"You want a piece of me? Bring it!" he snarled and began to charge at the nearest one.

All he cared about now was getting rid of these ugly bastards as fast as possible.

* * *

><p>"Hey, Arcee, where's Jack?" Miko asked as Arcee walked into the control room without the black-haired teen.<p>

"He's by himself." Arcee said carefully. "He said he wanted some time to himself to cool down."

"Do you know why he needed to cool off?" Raf asked.

"Jack accused me of keeping _something_ from him." Arcee said meaningfully.

The Prime's optics gained an understanding look in them. "It seems our young friend found out about his bond."

"Bond? What bond?" Raf asked confused.

Fortunately(or unfortunately depending on perspective) a sudden beeping came from the computer. Ratchet didn't even look surprised as he checked the signal. "Sudden Decepticon signal with much interference accompanying it. I think we _all_ know who this is."

"Jack." Was the unified response.

Arcee rolled her optics. "He tells me he's not going to get angry and he does it anyway." she said sarcastically. "Hey Ratchet, is it possible to bring up a visual to what's got him so riled up?"

"Luckily, it _is_ possible." Ratchet replied smartly, though the image that was brought up was something no one was expecting. "What in Primus' name are those things?"

"Those...those look like, well, they just look really gross." Miko said observing the things Jack was fighting.

"Jack's hurt." Raf said in concern for his friend as he saw the long bloody stain on the back of Jack's shirt.

For Arcee it felt like her spark was about to burst out of her chest. It was too painfully familiar. _'This is how Cliff went, wasn't it? Outnumbered and over powered?'_ What was she thinking? Threre was _no way_ she was about to lose someone else. "Ratchet, open a ground bridge to his location, he needs help!"

Almost surprised by her out burst, Ratchet was only caught a little off guard. "Hold on a klik." he said grumpily and locked onto the co-ordinates, the ground bridge appearing. "There-"

He barely said the word before Arcee shot off like a blue blur through the ground bridge. She arrived at the location to see that Jack had gotten the hang of fighting off the demons, if the frozen and smashed ice statues were any indication.

"Jack!" she yelled and blasted the Scarecrow that was behind him.

"Arcee? What are you doing here?" Jack sounded panicked and very angry.

Arcee was taken back by this hostile response. "I'm saving you of course! This is the thanks I get for trying to _be_ your guardian?"

Jack dodged another strike aimed at him as his attention was focusec entirely on the fight. "I don't _need_ saving! I have...this under control!" he yelled as he stabbed another Scarecrow, the demon freezing from the inside out as the sword was pulled out of it's chest and shattering.

Jack had found that while slicing the limbs off caused that area to freeze over, that stabbing them through the chest caused them to freeze entirely and shatter like glass. Maybe it was like that cause that's where there heart was? Whatever though, he was now only down to 7 Scarecrows, the one Arcee blasted included.

Speaking of Arcee, the femme proved to be just as headstrong as Jack since she refused to leave and let the teen be killed. Though each time she shto a Scarecrow down, not once did any of them deter and attack her. Their attention was focused solely on Jack.

The teen took a deep calming breath as he stabbed the last Scarecrow through the chest and the stinging on his back was almost gone. He looked around to make sure all the Scrarecrows were dead or shattered on the ground in a million pieces before looking up at Arcee. "Guess I owe you an explanation, don't I?" he spat, the anger he tried to reign in coming back.

"An explanation can wait until you get that wound cleaned." Arcee said sternly.

Jack nodded absently as he put the sword back into the guitar case and placed it over his shoulder to cover the blood. "You should probably get back to the base, I'll be-"

"Not a chance."

Damn. Jack sighed, now that his anger was all but gone, he was just too exhausted to argue. "Alright, lets go." he concededed and Arcee transformed into bike-mode.

This also gave him a chance to ask something that had been on his mind for a bit.

"So, what do you know about spark-bonds? Whoa!" Jack had to hold tightly on the handle bars as the femme swerved.

Arcee had expected to hear that question, but it still caught her off guard to hear it. "I don't know that much about them, all I know is that-"

"Your souls are fused together." Jack finished almost mechanically.

Arcee was rendered speechless for a moment. "How did you know that?"

"When Re-Knock Out told me about the bond, that's how he described it." Jack explained.

"Well, you could ask Ratchet about bonds, he is a medic after all." Arcee suggested.

The 'but so is Knock Out' Jack was about to say got caught in his throat and wisely kept it to himself. He didn't know how he knew that Red was a medic, so he added it to his mental list of things he could blame him for.

And that list was a steadily growing one.

* * *

><p>Jack winced only a little bit as his mother cleaned the blood away and cleaned up the wound. "Does it look as bad as it feels?"<p>

"Thankfully, it's not that deep and your accelerated healing took care of most of the damage. It _should_ be completely healed by morning tommorow or by tonight if you're lucky." June explained as she placed a gauze over the wound.

A suddenly chiling thought came up in Jack's mind. "Is this why you became a nurse? So you could treat any cuts I get without having to take me to the hospital?"

June diddn't answer at first. "Not really. I was already interrested in medicine when I...met your father."

"That's another thing, I saw a video of you on youtube singing." Jack said as he was once again forced to disgard his shirt. He really had to do something about his shirt problem.

"Really?" June sounded surprised. "Yeah, I used to sing. Your father actually encouraged me to do it and would post it on the internet." her tone implied that there was a blush on her face. "It was through one of my performances that I expressed my feelings for him. Since, calling him...cold, is putting it mildly."

Jack turned around at that. "Did it work?"

June's face scrunched up. "It worked alright. Only he thought I was singing about someone _else_." she sounded vaguely exasperated. "He got so jealous that I almost went into shock from seeing him act so out of character." she giggled and Jack felt weirded out to see his mother act so 'girly.' "So I kissed him and told him it was _him_ I was singing about."

Jack grimaced at the 'kiss' bit and tried not to think about it. "So when _did_ dad...disappear?" It felt more appropriate to use that word than 'leave.'

"When you were one. It was after that _incident_ that I offically met your uncle actually." June replied.

Jack sat down and listened more intently. "Really?"

"Yes. I was shocked to meet someone who looked exactly like your dad, but act so completely different. I mean, I knew he had a brother, but he never said he was a _twin. _Your uncle seemed shocked to not only learn that his brother had a kid, but a human wife, he stressed the human part for some reason, and sounded quite amused by it." she shrugged. "Though I didn't know him well enough to ask why he thought that."

"So I take it that dad wasn't all that nice of a person?" Jack asked tentatively.

June sighed. "No, he wasn't. He didn't even like me when we first met. It took me a whole month to get him to stop calling me 'girl' or 'human.'" she muttered. "But never doubt that he did care about us."

"Don't worry, I won't." Jack murmured as he thought about what his mother told him.


	7. Chapter 7

"Now, about that explanation..." Arcee started as Jack came into the garage.

"I haven't forgotten." Jack retorted and sat down on the steps of the doorway. "Listen though, you have to promise me you won't say anything to Miko and Raf, I have to tell them myself. Okay?"

"Alright." Arcee replied. "But I believe it would be more pertinent if I put on my speakers so the other Autobots may ask their questions withoutn having to relay anything."

Jack sighed and thought it over. If the other 'Bots saw the demons, and his sword, then it would be more beneficial if he just got it over with in one scoop. "Sure. Go ahead."

Arcee contacted the base and informed them of the situation. So putting on the speakers, she asked the most obvious question. "What are you?"

Jack smirked bitterly at her blunt tone. "Please hold any objections to yourself as it would be insulting to my very existence." he took a deep breath and said in the most apathetic tone he could muster, "I'm a demon, to put it simply. Well, half-demon actually..."

* * *

><p>"What is it, Sounwave?" Starscream asked annoyed from his spot on the bridge.<p>

The silent mech only showed any reply by opening up the active channel between the Autobots that he'd hacked. _:Arcee to base. Come in, base.:_

_:Arcee, this is Optimus. How is Jack?:_

_:He's...okay. Still looks put out though.:_

"Soundwave, why would I want to hear a conversation about a fleshbag?" Starscream growled before another thought dawned on him. "Is this...live?" The silent mech merely nodded.

_:That is understandable. It was unfair of us to hide such vital information from him.:_ Prime replied.

_:Good news though. Jack's agreed to tell us all about the creatures we saw. He said it was acceptable to put it on speaker so we could all converse.:_ Arcee said.

_:Affirmative.:_ Prime replied.

There was a long pause before Arcee spoke. "What are you?"

"Please hold any objections to yourself as it would be insulting to my very existence." There was a pause from the fleshy. "I'm a demon, to put it simply. Well, half-demon actually..."

There was absolute silence from the feed and on the bridge as even the Vehicon drones stopped working and turned to listen.

"What are you all looking at? Back to work!" Starscream snarled and the Vehicons went back to work.

"You see, my dad was also a half-breed, but my mom's human." The fleshy continued. "That sword was a gift he left for me."

"Wait, you had a father?" Arcee questioned.

The hu-_organic_ made an annoyed sound. "Of _course_ I _have_ a father. He's not dead...just gone. Either way, he can't come back from I know."

"Speaking of _dead,"_ The medic interjected, "Why did my scans register that you lied when you said you didn't die?"

"Well, that's cause I did die. I had too." The orgnic stated. "Though thanks to my demon blood and acceerated healing ability that I got from my dad, I won't be dying for a very long time." There was a significant pause. "Ratchet, about this bond I have, is it possible for him to have my ability too? Like how I'm suddenly able to understand Cybertronian?"

Starscream looked slightly interested. "Bond?" he repeated.

"A bond like yours is unheard of as you have no spark to fuse too, but with regular bond, it is possible for knowlege and any special abiltities to be transfered through it to better ensure both recipients survival." The medic explained.

"Does the bond still work that way even if the bond is unwanted?" The organic questioned with a strange tone in his voice.

"Yes." The medic replied bluntly.

"That still doesn't explain why Jack keeps showing up as a 'Con." The youngling beeped.

"Well, he had to show up as something, I assume." The medic replied gruffly. "And it is not so ironic seeing as from I have read over from the Internet, that demons are inherently evil. Very 'Con-like if you ask me."

"Are you calling me evil?" The organic hissed. "Look, I know my dad wasn't the nicest of people from what my mom told me and that he tried to raise the Demon World, thus damning humanity, but I'm not like that!"

"You're father tried to do what?" Arcee asked sharply.

"Why does that sound familiar?" The youngling beeped sarcastically. "Oh yeah, just replace 'Demon World' with 'the undead' and you'd have what Megatron tried to do."

**"Anyway.**" The organic said in a dark voice, "Is there a way to get rid of this bond?"

"Not without therebeing a chance of the backlash killing both you _and_ Knock Out." The medic countered.

"Cut the feed, I've heard enough." Starscream ordered and marched off to the sick bay. He paid no attention to Breakdown but paused when he saw the husk of their 'leader' and tried to imagine a demon that could be just as ruthless as him, but brushed the thought away. He saw their medic look up with that insufferable smirk of his on his faceplate. "Did you really think you could keep the _half-breed_ a secret from me?" he questioned slyly.

The smirk was wiped clean off Knock Out's faceplate and a small flash of panic flared in his optics before he qucikly covered it up. "I'm not sure I understand what you're saying." he lied smoothly. "I cetainly don't know about any half-breed of anything."

Starscream narrowed his optics and remembered a certain bit of information. _'Accelerated healing hmm? Lets see if it works.'_ he thought and without warning, he slashed his claws across Knock Out's faceplate.

The medic hissed and put a hand over the gashes. "You!-" he broke of and growled. What was that for? This is going to take me at leashed a joor to fix!"

"Actually, I think a few kliks is all it really needs." Starscream sneered snidely. "Now move your hand." he ordered. The hand didn't move an inch. "I said: Move. Your. Hand. _Now._!"

Knock Out glared at him as he moved his hand away to show the slowly, but surely, healing scratches. "Happy now?" he spat sarcastically.

Starscream looked smug. "Very." Then he scowled. "Now I'll ask again: did you really think you could keep the half-breed a secret from me?" he hissed.

"It was worth a shot." The medic replied flippantly.

Off at the side, Breakdown looked horribly confused. "What is he talking about, Knock Out?"

"Why," Starscream started off dramatically, "I'm talking about how the good doctor here failed to inform us that he was bonded to an organic."

"I didn't think that was possible." Breakdown muttered.

"It _shouldn't_ be," Knock Out returned, "but this fleshy isn't exactly human. I found this out when I looked through his memories."

"And did you also find the Autobot base's location from these memories?" Starscream questioned.

"Uh, about that," The medic started and suddenly became very aware that he was scratching the back of his helm. _'Damn-_slagging_ organic._' he thought sullenly, "no, but I will nect time."

"See that you do."

* * *

><p>Jack frowned as he and Arcee arrived at the Autobot base, the part about 'backlash' still on his mind. He told his mom that hew was going out to hang with his friends. June had reluctantly agreed and and give a customary 'Be careful' mantra.<p>

He shifted the guitar case to fit more comfortably on his shoulder and heard two voices shout, "Jack!" before he was nearly knocked off balance by two pairs of arms locking around him. Jack winced from the gauze more than his stil healing wound, but Miko and Raf mistook this for pain and moved back.

"Sorry Jack." Raf said apologetically.

Jack waved it off. "That's okay."

Miko stared at the guitar case. "Is that where you keep that cool-looking sword?" she asked with some excitement.

"It's not a sword right now." Jack answered plainly. He placed the case on the ground and opened it to reveal his blue bow. "This is it's 'original' for you could say."

"Jack, why do you have clothes in there?" Arcee questioned upon seeing the shirts tucked away inside the case.

"Huh? Oh, it's just incase another one gets shredded." Jack answered. He saw the concerned looks his friends were giving him and sighed inwardly. He _did_ say he was going to tell them about himself, and he was also sure they'd seen the demons too if they were asking about his weapon.

"Look, there's something I gotta tell you." he said slowly.

"Like what those gross thing you were fighting were?" Miko asked.

Jack paused. "Uh, yeah, that's exactly why." he took a reassuring breath. "Look, I'm not exactly...human."

"Not exactly human? What does that mean?" Raf asked confused.

"Just what I said." Jack replied in a resigned tone. "I'm a half-breed demon. Before, I was just partly, but then my demon blood woke up and now I'm half..." he went on to explain everything he'd told the 'Bots, though leaving out the bit he'd said about his dad. He also pointedly left out the part where he had a bond with Knock Out.

That was something he was going to put off for a while.

One bombshell at a time after all.


	8. Chapter 8

"That...is the most incredible thing I've never heard." Miko said after a long silence.

Jack looked at her with a slightly hopeful expression. "So you both believe me?" They nodded. "And you don't think I'm a freak? A monster?" he asked much more quietly.

"Jack, your our friend." Raf said reassuringly. "Though it is unsettling to know that demons actually do exist."

Miko shrugged. "Hey, it alien robots exist," she jerked her thumb at the still present femnme, "then why not demons? Besides, in Japan, demons can range from being plain evil to just plain tricky." she seemed to think the matter was settled as she got up and gave them both a pointed look. "Now, we _still_ have practice." Both boys groaned. "I think I saw Raf's laptop in the control room."

Jack rolled his eyes as they walked off, Arcee following, but couldn't help but feel as though a great weight was lifted off his shoulders. Telling his friends had been a big deal for him because he didn't have any other friends other than them and the 'Bots. He would've been very hurt if they had just laughed it off and called it a 'Great Story.'

Almost subconciously, he looked up at Arcee. When she had showed up to see him fighting the Scarecrows, he had been terrified to know what she thought of him.

He had tried to deny the fact that he was starting to see her as something more than a guardian, like when he thought she was just a normal motorcycle. Things were complicated enough without getting her mixed up in it. 'Sides, there were three other factors he had to forcibly consider.

He had no idea if she felt the same.

Another was Red. He didn't know if he cared or not(most likely not though), but he wasn't going to out a bigger target on his guardian's back if Knock Out turned out to be the jealous type.

Then there was the bond. While he certainly didn't want it, and while he certainly didn't _like_ Knock Out, he didn't wanna die either.

So until he could find a safe way to cut the bond, he had to keep his feelings to himself.

"Hey, Jack! Earth to Jack!" Miko yelled annoyed.

Jack tried not to flinch as he found himself standing beside the couch. It was strange and disturbing that he could have walked up the stairs completely unaware of what he was doing. Maybe his inner demon had more control than he thought. "Yeah?"

Miko pointed at the screen of Raf's computer. "New song's starting."

Jack nearly groaned as he saw that on the screen was an image of his younger-looking mother, though there was a meloncholic look in her eyes. If Jack had to guess, this probably happened after his father disappeared.

_"Deep in my soul,  
>Love so strong,<br>It takes control,_

_Now we know,  
>The secrets bared,<br>The feelings show..."_

"What's that sound?" Bumblebee asked curiously.

"It's a video of my mom. She was a hit on Youtube apparently." Jack answered, not even surprised at the looks, he felt rather proud of his mom.

_"Driven far apart,  
>I'll make a wish,<br>On a shooting star,_

_There will come a day,  
>Somewhere far away,<br>In your arms I'll stay,  
>My only love,<em>

_Even though your gone,  
>Love will still live on,<br>This feeling is so strong,  
>My only love..."<em>

"This reminds me of Rosanna." Bulkhead commented.

"Who's that?" Miko asked curiously.

"Uh, femme Autobot singer." Bulkhead replied. "Big hit on Cybertron."

Jack stared at the screen as his thoughts wandered. _'I knew my mom loved dad, but I never knew she loved him this much. If only there was a way to get him back here.'_

* * *

><p>"I really need to get a new job." Jack griped as he helped his mom clean the dishes. He let out a self-deprecating chuckle. "Maybe I should go into demon hunting like uncle Dante."<p>

June grimaced. "Um, why don't you look for other career choices first? Like how I went into medicine."

"Hmm." Jack hummed thoughtfully. "I'd be able to treat my own wounds if I did when the demons show up to try and kill me."

"I was so careful." June murmured. "But I knew this was going to happen eventually."

"Hey, it's not your fault." Jack said sincerely. "This is just happening because my demon blood woke up, right? What are the chances that anyone even knew I was a Sparda?"

June paused for a moment before relaxing. Only slightly though. "Not great, I'll admit. And despite what an obnoxious braggart Dante can be, I know he'd never say anything to intentionally give you away."

"You make it sound like he'd do it by accident though." Jack said.

June looked at him flatly. "It's Dante." she said it like it should explain everything.

And maybe it did. After all, he had never met his uncle(and if he did, he was too young to remember), but his mon had.

"Why is my middle name Dante then?" Jack questioned.

"Well, I got to give you your first name, but your father gave you your uncle's name because he thought giving you _his_ name would be a little to cliche." June explained. "That's what he told me anyways."

"Heh." Was Jack's only reply. He suddenly paused as he sniffed the air. "I smell something." he said and reached for the guitar case on the chair. He took the bow and, spoke the incantantion to change it into a sword and followed the smell to the backyard. He stared suspiciously in the darkened area, the only light coming from the porch light he was standing under.

In the more darkened area, he saw a floating being covered in a cloak. Jack frowned as it raised a hand, but his eyes widened and he barely dodged as something shot out at him.

"Whoa!" he grunted as he saw that the long thing objects that would have skewered him were fingers. Still, Jack wasn't going to wait and let it kill him. He raised his katana an cut down, the tip of the fingers freezing over as it was chopped off. "That's what you get for trying to mess with me!"

Regardless though, the Mephisto continued to try and stab him at a distance and Jack kept hacking away at the sharp fingers He hoped the ice would grow to heavy and for it to hold up and then he could charge at it to freeze it completely.

'Or,' his inner demon hissed scathingly, _'you could shoot it with your bow.'_

Jack wanted to smack himself, but went through with his demon's instructions. "Fubuki: transform." he felt the unfamiliar light weight of the bow(compared to the sword anyway) throw him off balance momentarily. He pulled the string back and a clear, ice blue arrow appearered, then he fired. The arrow went through the left shoulder and froze it.

_'That was good, though next time, aim for the _right.' his demon hissed again.

_'Alright, alright, bossy.'_ Jack thought and fired again. This time luck seemed to be on his side as the arrow went right into the Mephisto's chest, causing it to freeze over completely before shattering. "Alright!" he shouted triumphantly.

"Jack?" Came his mother's voice as she peered out of the back door. "Are you alright? It didn't hurt you, did it?"

"No." Jack answered. "I learned my lesson about letting any demons get a cut on me." he was about to step closer to her when he felt the ground under his feet shake and the dirt crumbled and gave way. "Ahhh!" he cried as he fell down through an abyss. The cavern walls looked fleshy instead of being made of dirt.

The last thing he heard was his mother's echoing cry, then...nothing.

* * *

><p>"No, Jack!" June cried as she fell to her knees and stared at the hole in the ground. Her son had just been taken before her very eyes. Was he de-no, she couldn't thingk like that. Was he just gone like Vergil? Questionable alive but unreachable?<p>

Maybe.

She didn't know about any underground demons because Vergil had deemed it 'unnecessary' for her to know. Unnecessary her ass! If he ever got out of hell, she was kicking his ass _back_ there.

Still, all indignation aside, she felt sick to her stomach and let out a small shuddering sigh. She felt like she had failed her role as a mother. Like the past 16 years had been defined by this very moment.

Jack had no idea how scared she'd get whenever he'd come home past curfew with a lame excuse. Then the night he asked about what she was keeping from him made her realize that he _needed_ to know what was out there. And while she perferred to keep that part from him, he'd find out anyway.

She knew he'd have eventually found that sword. Better to let him know now instead of later on and having him resent her for it.

The night he died though nearly broke her heart. She couldn't weep because she had to clean up his chest wound. Then again, with that cut on his back from an actual demon attack. Had they found out about him? Did they smell him? Had it been completely random?

She was personally hoping it had been the last choice.

June took her self out of her pity party with a sense of self-depracation. Why was she just sitting here doing nothing? She may not have a broad knowledge of demons, she knew someone who _did_.

A someone she hadn't seen or talked to in 13 years as he had helped her out wth raising Jack while she finished her medical degree.

_'Please still have the same number._' she silently prayed as she dialed the number. _'Pick up, pick up, pick u-'_

"Password?"

Pas-for crying out loud! She didn't have time for this. "It's me, it's," she couldn't believe she was about to call herself this, esspecially consider how much she had scolded him for calling her it, "Junebug!"

"Junebug? This can't be her as she told me she hoped to never see me again even though I helped _raise_ her kid." A male voice said dramatically. The tone then became more 'normal.' "Whatcha callin' 'bout, Junebug? And how's Jackie?"

June sighed. "That's why I'm calling you after all this time; I need your help. It's about Jack. He's...gone."

"You mean he's dead?" There was an unusual grimness in the male's voice.

"No, he not dead!" June snapped. "'Gone' doesn't equal 'dead,' Dante!"

There was a rather bitter laugh on the other end of the line. "You said that exact same line when you shot me down after I asked you out. Only that time you'd been refering to Verge."

June sighed again. "Please, Dante. I really need your help. You can help me all you want, but do this for Jack at least."

"Hate you?" There was a fair amount of disbelief in Dante's voice. "I don't hate you. I'm just pissed that it took for this to happen to get you to call me." he sounded almost hurt at that point.

June bit her lip. "Sorry about that, but about the help?"

"Oh, alright. Now, what exactly happened to Jackie?"

* * *

><p>Jack groaned as he he felt sand moving under his hands and his hair.<p>

Wait...sand?

He opened his eyes and found himself staring up at a very red 'sky' He looked down at his right hand, which was still clutching the bow, and stared at the red sand. He frowned as he sat up and shook it out of his hair.

He got to his feet and took in his surroundings. It was sandy as far as the eye could see. It was also hot.

_Really_ hot. Hot as...yeah, _that._

Jack wiped his brow and started to drudge through the desert and his inner demon stiring.

Yeah, his demon _would_ want to come out in this place. He knew where he was, strangely enough. It was also rather disturbing.

Still, for the life of him, as he felt the sand shift beneath his shoes, he couldn't figure out how he had ended up in the Demon World.

* * *

><p>AN: I have decided to break this up into a story arc as Jack travels through the demon world to get home. I can say this arc will end in time for Jack to make his appearance for the episode "Predatory." Now, I'm going to stopt talking before I give too much away.


	9. Chapter 9

The 'soul plane' looked different. Everything still looked the same; all the buildings were there, the streets were intact. The place just seemed _off_ though.

"Hmph, why should I care about the state of this place." Knock Out muttered as he began to look around for the organic. If there was one thing this 'bond' was good for it'd be getting the location of the Autobot base out of Ja-the organic. He decided to check the 'music store' he found him in before, but noticed the lamp posts on the street corners flickering. _'That's never happened before.'_ he thought.

While both he and the organic probably wished this bond didn't exist, the stability of the place was the basis of the bond. If the bond was experiencing 'glitches,' then it meant that either the organic wasn't asleep, or that...

...he was 'out of range.'

But where could he have possibly gone?

Almost as if answering, the landscape of the town cracked and changed from a near ghost town to a red desert with charging winds, blistering heat, and a red 'sky.' When scene was once again replaced by the ghost town, Knock Out was surprised to find that there was strewns of red sand at his pedes and that condensation had already set in.

Wherever the organic was, it was very hot, sandy, and red.

Still, it wasn't like he _cared_ about what happened to the organic, he just didn't want to offline should the little meatbag die.

But that didn't mean he couldn't _try_ and find out where he was, right?

* * *

><p>Arcee didn't think much of the previous night when Jack's mother June had called out to him. She figured he had accidently did something reckless and she was treating his injury.<p>

She _began_ to think something was wrong when Jack never came out in the morning for school, but she didn't have an explanation for why there was no 'Con signal coming from the house. Or the sign _any_ one else was still in the house when June had left for twenty minutes and came back with a grocery bag and wearing an anxious expression on her face.

This made Arcee think something bad _had_ happned to Jack.

At the current moment, she heard a motorcycle engine and she saw a man with white hair, blue eyes, with a guitar case on his back like Jack's, and wearing a red trench coat pull up into the driveway and into the garage.

The door to the garage opened and June came out so fast she fell off the fist step. The white-haired man though moved inhumanly fast and caught her in his arms. "Falling for me, Junebug?"

June shook her head and shoved his arms off her. "Watch it." she warned. "Jack's missing and I did _not_ call you out here to hit on me."

The man's demeanour seemed to get more serious. "Alright, Junebug, where did-" his attention was then directed at Arcee. "Wow, Junebug, never thought you'd _actually_ take my advice and get a motorcycle."

June glowered at him. "It's not mine, it's Jack's. He said the motorcycle 'chose him.'" her expression was wry.

The man's eyes turned to suspicion as he looked at Arcee with a much darker expression. "Chose him? You sure it's not an Infestant?"

"Believe me, Dante, I doubt a parasite would stay in that and _not_ try to merge with a perfectly reachable half-demon." June rebuked.

"Right." Dante conceded. "Now, where did Jackie disappear from?"

"This way." June lead her guest through the door and Arcee was left alone.

Jack was missing? So that's why he never came out of the house or seemed like he wasn't there? Because he was _missing_ and _not_ hurt? What kind of guardian was she if her charge was taken from right under her olfactor?

Still, this man June had called obviously _knew_ her and most likely Jack, if he was calling him 'Jackie.' The whole situation fell under a category she had no business in. The 'supernatural' was a foreign concept to a Cybertronian.

And while she hated to admit it, she was completely useless in this situation.

* * *

><p>"There has to be something I can use for shelter." Jack griped aloud as his free hand tried to block out the sand from getting into his eyes.<p>

Wait, in the distance, was that...a cave?

Please, he thought as he struggled to run over to it, _please_ don't let it be a mirage. As soon as he came within 10 feet of it though, his nose twitched and he immediately stopped. "Shit." he cursed and looked around. Jack could hear his heart in his ears as an unnatural fear came over him.

He was in the Demon World. While being a half-demon, he still had human blood in him.

And if he could smell the demons, then whose to say they couldn't smell _him_. Or both the human _and_ Sparda blood running through his veins?

...And this world apparently hates his family. A lot.

_"Shit."_ Jack cursed again and felt a tingly sensation as his hair stood on end.

Jack was sent flying back as a bolt of electricity appeared in front of him. He groaned and saw three crackling demons standing near him. They were looking around instead of attacking him outright.

One of them though made a sniffing sound before jerking it's head to look directly at Jack and zoomed at him, leaving a trail of static from where it once stood.

"Gah!" Jack exclaimed as a lightning covered fist came at him and he narrowly rolled out of the way and onto his feet.

His outburst though caused the other two Blitzs to attack him as well. Jack managed to dodge one fist, but the other caught him in the chest and _again_ he was sent flying back.

Jack had to bite down on his lip to keep from yelling out as the electricity made him convulse for a moment. He looked at his bow and tightened his grip on it. He gritted his teeth, pulled the string back, and fired.

The first Blitz was hit in the chest and as it was being frozen, it suddenly started to turn red. Jack frowned as the Blitz got red and the hairs on the back of his neck started to stand on end.

Though this time it had nothing to do with the electricity still running through him.

_'Get down!'_

Like a reflex, Jack dived into the sand just as the Blitz exploded, sending shards of lightning and shattered ice out. Since Jack was out of blasts line of fire, most of the damage missed him, though the other two Blitzs were pelted with ice and sent flying back. Despite the ice shards that _had_ gotten pelted into his back, Jack moved gingerly as he carefully hefted his bow and once again fired, this time at the Blitz that had just gotten back up.

Just like before, the Blitz turned red as the ice began encasing it and Jack covered his head as the explosion went off. His ears picked up another explosion and he could only guess that it was the last Blitz dying too.

Jack stood up warily with his bow in hand and looked around as he put his other hand gently on his back. There were no more Blitzs and, he cringed, he had to get the ice shards out of his back and _fast_.

Maybe it would melt before the cuts healed over?

_'Not gonna happen.'_ his inner demon retorted.

_'Why not, it's just ice, right?'_ Jack thought frowning.

_'No, it's not, it's everlasting ice. It means it's not gonna melt. Now I suggest you get those shards out of your back before you have to cut open your own back to dig them out.'_ his inner demon said.

Jack paled and momentarily shook his head. _'No, I don't want to have to do that.'_ he thought and looked at the spot the Blitzs used to be. "Why the hell did they come after me like that?" he asked himself aloud.

Though he never expected to _get_ an answer.

"They weren't after you, they were after me." A voice from behind him said coolly.

Jack nearly jumped as he whirled around, bow drawn back and his eyes widened. Standing there behind him was a blue/black scaled demon with red eyes that were staring at him indifferently from an insect-like face. Indifference being quite a feat when there was an arrow pointed at your face.

Jack's attention was drawn to the clothes the demon was wearing as a knot tightened in his stomach. Dark ribbed shirt, boots, dark pants, and a tattered blue trench coat. It then occured to him that if Jack had a trigger, then it was only logical that...

Only one thought crossed his mind at that moment.

_'Dad...?'_


	10. Chapter 10

"Are you going to shoot or just stand there like an idiot?"

Jack lowered his bow slowly, the arrow vanishing from sight and felt the knot in his stomach lessen as a flurry of unidentifiable emotions coursed through him. "Do you know who I am?" he found himself asking.

The older demon tilted their head only slightly. "'Should I?" he asked patronizingly.

The knot tightened back up. "You mean you don't remember me?" Well, he was _one_ when his dad left, so maybe-

"I don't remember _anything."_ The demon replied icily. Then he stared at Jack with some contemplation...and no small amount of distain. "And yet in order to ask me if I know you is to suggest that you know _me."_

Jack was surprised by the fact his dad was so smart and stunned at the icy demeanour he was recieving, but he knew that in the Demon World anything seen as weakness would be looked down on or killed.

Then again, his mother_ did_ admit that his father wasn't all that nice to begin with. So what would it matter if he told him that he was his son? Or would he just not believe him?

_'What do you think?_' his inner demon asked rhetorically.

_'He wouldn't believe me.'_ Jack thought. _'Right, best not to say anything about _that_ just yet.'_ he was shaken out of his thoughts by a scaly clawed hand grabbing him by the back of his neck and lifting him up. "Hey, what do you think you're doing?"

"You have answers to who I am and you are going to tell me while I dig those shards out of your back." The older demon replied bluntly.

"Oh." Jack didn't know why, but being carried like this made him feel like a baby animal. Like how they're carried by the scruff of their necks by their parents. Was this how demons carried any kids _they_ had?"

Still, he shouldn't get too hopeful. This may be just because he was young(comparatively to him anyway) and the other demon probably didn't want to stand around waiting for Jack to move.

_'Great, my dad probably thinks I'm an idiot now.'_ he thought and heard his inner demon chuckling. _'Not helping.'_

* * *

><p>"He's...he's <em>where?"<em> There was an incredulous and somewhat hysterical note in June's voice.

"He's in the Demon World, June. The thing that got him was a Fault; they prey on magic and send anyone there when they swallow them." The man, Dante, explained.

"So he's where Vergil is then." It wasn't question, but a resigned, tired statement.

"Hey, don't give up. Least we know he's still alive."

Arcee stopped listening after that. She couldn't believe this. Jack was in the Demon World. Even though she knew he wasn't dead, it still hurt knowing she may never see him again.

They hadn't exactly gotten off to the best start when they met, but she was starting to care about him. A lot actually. She'd been hoping against hope that she'd misheard what Dante had said, but it was crushed when he had repeated.

She never had any real interest in learning about Earth culture, but hearing from Jack about _what_ he was made her research about demons and the supernatural in general.

To learn those creatures actually existed almost fried her processor. And to learn most of them were malevolent worried her. To think of Jack killing others made her fuel tank churn uncomfortably.

The image though was drowned out when she reminded herself that Jack was still half _human_. Despite the unflattering description Jack had given of his father's personality, he had later told her just how much his mother had loved his dad. And if this Dante guy was a demon, well, her overall opinion of them was slowly changing.

Speaking of which, she knew she had to be careful with that Dante man around if he already seemed suspicious of her.

Almost on reflex she hopelessly tried to call Jack's cell phone. She knew it was a shot in the dark, but if he had it...

"Hello?" Incredulty. Pure, unaldulterated incredulty.

Jack wasn't the only one feeling indreculous. "Jack? You're okay?"

"Moderately, but yeah." There was a wry, wary tone in Jack's voice, like he couldn't believe he was speaking to her. She couldn't believe it either. "Who knew hell had such great reception."

"I thought you were in the Demon World?" Arcee questioned.

"I am." Jack replied bluntly. "Hell _is_ the Demon World." There was a pause and Arcee had a feeling Jack wasn't speaking to her. "Do you even _know_ a way out? 'Cause I'd love to hear it, ow!" he yelped.

"Jack, are you alright?" Arcee questioned.

"Yeah. Mr. Sunshine just hit me on the head, that's all." Jack said indignantly. "Anyway, I have to go . Here's hoping we can get out."

_"We?_ Who's we?" Arcee questioned, only to recieve a dial tone indicating that Jack had already hung up.

While she felt relief that Jack was still alive, she also felt worried. The Demon World was hell? Figuratively and literally? This wasn't good because this meant Jack would have to save himself. She hated feeling useless, it made her feel weak.

But she was useless, wasn't she? At least with this. She supposed all she could really do at this pooint was to report this new development to her teammates.

* * *

><p>"So, what do you want to know first?" Jack asked once the older man had finally set him down in the cave shelter he had originally been heading to, and got started on digging the ice shards out of his back.<p>

"I want to know my name." Was the instant reply.

Okay, Jack could do that. "You're name is Vergil Sparda." he flinched when the claw removing a shard cut in his skin a bit more roughly than necessary. He was hoping it was more out of surpirse and not anger.

"So I really _am_ a son of Sparda." Vergil muttered. "Go on."

"Um, you have a twin brother, and well, there's me." Jack said nervously.

"Hn." This 'hn sounded more contemplative than derisive.

Still, Jack tried not to keep flinching from those sharp claws digging into his back to get the shards out. There goes one shard...now two...now three...

Heh, he could almost hear a catchy tune sounding in his head. Weird huh?

"...What's that noise?"

Aw, crap. Wait, his cell phone really was _ringing?_

Jack winced as he took his phone out of his pocket. "Hello?" he asked with complete disbelief.

"Jack?" It was Arcee. Never before had Jack been so glad to hear her voice. "You're okay."

He smiled wryly to himself and it reflected in his tone. "Moderately. Who knew hell had such great reception."

"I thought you were in the Demon World?" Arcee questioned.

"I am." Jack answered bluntly. "Hell _is_ the Demon World." he heard a very quiet scoff from behind him and felt the need to lash out suddenly. Verbally of course. He wasn't stupid after all. He looked over at his shoulder at Vergil. "Do you even _know_ a way out? 'Cause I'd to hear it." This caused the demon behind him to responsed by intentionally digging his claws in deeper than necessary. "Ow!"

"Jack, are you alright?" Arcee asked with concern.

"Yeah. Mr. Sunshine just hit me over the head, that's all." Jack lied with real indignation in his voice. It was better than telling her he was having ice shards dug out of his back. "Anyway, I have to go, here's hoping we can get out." he said and put his phone away.

_"We_? You intend to help me get out of this place?" Vergil questioned as he pulled out another shard. Just how many shrapnel had the boy been hit with?

"Yeah. We're family_. _Doesn't that mean anything here?" Jack asked.

"Not really from what I've seen. As soon as your old enough to fend for yourself, you're on your own." Vergil said apathetically. "Though if you want some 'uncle-ly' advice; don't stay in your human form here."

Jack felt his insides freeze and he swore his heart stopped beating for a moment. _Uncle._ His father thought he was his _uncle?_ He wanted so much to tell him that he was his son, but then again, there was no chance he'd be believed.

Something though made him believe that even _helping_ him was more out of self-interest than actual care. Family or not.

And as much as he didn't want to do this; he had to play along. At least until his father got his memory back. Then he just had to hope his dad didn't get _too_ angry with him for _not_ saying anything.

"But, don't I have to be angry or something for my trigger form to activate?" Jack found himself asking.

Those claws paused in digging out the last shard as Vergil answered. "Technically, there is more than one way to have easy access to your demon form, as this _is_ the _Demon World_, child. All you really have to do is _co-opereate_ with your demon side and it's done."

Jack frowned thoughtfully to himself. _'If I do this, your not gonna try and take over my body, are you?'_

_'Pfft. No, not unless you do something stupid or your space out again.'_ his inner demon shot back. _'Like dad said, this _is_ the Demon World, so we don't have to worry about turning back into our human form when we get tired.'_

_'Okay then, how do I _do_ this? It honestly can't be as easy as what dad said.'_ Jack thought.

_'You seriously askng me? I barely know anymore than you!'_ his inner demon hissed. _'Lets just trust dad's knowledge on this. 'Kay?'_

Jack raised a mentral brow. Apparently his inner 'self' had a bit more of a father complex than he did. And by complex he meant the_ not_ being there part. _'Fine. Least we can both agree on that to some extent. I really can't believe your me though.'_

_'Well, I am. The_ better_ you that is.'_ his inner demon said smugly.

Jack scowled on the inside. _'What was that?'_

_'I said I'm better than you.'_ The voice so eerily similar to his own stated again.

_'And how, pray tell, are you better than me? We share the same body.'_ Jack thought hotly. _'We're the same damn person! And as I seem to recall, you are the _inner_ self.'_

His inner demon didn't seem all that ruffled by this, in fact , it seemed almost amused. Pride, it seemed, was a universal thing that anyone could succumb too. _'Be that as it may, you still need me in order to activate our trigger form. Since it is _my_ true form. I was created as the demon part of us, the 'inner part'. And you are the outer part, the 'human' half of us.'_

Jack's lips thinned. He hated being outwitted, and it was just sad when the person who beat you is yourself in esscence. _'Okay, you win. Now _help.'

At least his demon side doesn't rub it in his face.

A feeling comes over him and spreads from his chest, right where his 'scar' is. It was cool and spread over his skin under his clothing, and felt a slight pressure come over his nose as the mouthguard appears. He sees his hands being covered in white metal and the finger tips ending in sharp points. Like claws.

He's pretty sure by the time he looks back at his father, his hair is also white and his eyes are red. "So, what do you think?" Okay, maybe he _did_ have a father complex as bad as his demon half.

_"I think you are a very unusual one, child." Vergil replied._

Jack bristled. "I'm _16_." he huffed. "And I do have a _name_."

"Which you have yet to tell me." Vergil finished dryly.

Jack's anger was now replaced with embarrassement. "Uh, right. My name's Jack." he answered, is metal claws scratching the back of his head. "So, why were those _things_ after you earlier?"

"I assumed the reason was obvious." Vergil said glowering at him.

Jack thought it over for a moment before his eyes looked involuntarily down at the bloody shards on the ground before it clicked. _Oh. _"Right." he nodded. "It's 'cause we're related to Sparda, I get it." he paused and stood up. "Well, sitting around isn't going to help us get out or get your memory restored."

"You actually intend to restore my memory?" Vergil querstioned dubiously.

Jack nodded. "Of course, you're my d-_uncle_." he replied as if it should have been obvious. "Now, is there any place we can get information from? Like an information booth or something?"

Vergil stared at Jack like he thought he was an idiot. "There's the Trismagia. They know everything that goes on or there is to know about this world."

"Great! We're do we find them?" Jack asked feeling slighly more hopeful than when he got there.

"They dwell just beyond the rivers of the Demon World." Vergil replied bluntly. "Which is on the other side of this plane."

And just like that, Jack's hopes were brutally taken down a few knotches.


	11. Chapter 11

"Jack's gone? What do you mean Jack's gone?" Miko yelled up at her Autobot guardian from the couch she and Raf were sitting at.

"Arcee said he was taken down into the Demon World, which she said by Jack's own statement;' _is_ hell.'" Bulkhead answered.

Miko and Raf paled at that. "Looks like hell just gained a new name." Miko said finally.

"Uh, actually; I assumed it was already called that." Raf said.

Ratchet though, 'huffed.' "I can accept that Jack is not fully human because of the evidence backing up his claim, but I find it hard that an entire plane that is the equivalent of the Pit exists and no one has even found it."

"Actually, people have." Raf answered. "In legends it says heroes go down into-well, the names vary, but they all mean the same thing really- the Underworld to accomplish a quest or bring back someone they love. Though _those_ ones don't turn out the way they want." He explained.

"In these stories, do they tell _where_ the entrances are?" Optimus questioned.

"I may have to check, but I'm sure they mention them though." Raf answered and set to work on his laptop. "Though from what I know, none of the people except one that went down into the underworld were regular humans."

"What do you mean by 'regular humans'?" Bulkhead asked.

"It means they were either only half-human, or weren't human all-together." Raf answered.

Miko let out a small huff as she took out her cell phone. "You said Arcee actually _called_ Jack. So, why don't you, like, trace the signal?" she asked and dialed.

Ring…ring…ring…

"-Hello?" A panicked voice asked.

"Jack!" Miko said in relief and Ratchet began trying to locate the signal. "Are you okay?"

"Déjà vu." Jack retorted and let out a yelp. "Get away from me!"

"Jack, what's going on?" Miko asked frowning.

"Uh, you didn't exactly call at the best time." Jack replied and in the background was a string of bubbly giggles, along with cawing and a distinct male voice snarling, "This is exactly why you shouldn't turn your back on them!" "I know that now!" Jack retorted in reply to the voice.

Miko felt increasingly disturbed. "Jack, what's going on? You sound like you're in trouble." This caused the other 'Bots to also feel disturbed and worried.

"Nothing out of the ordinary: just a demon trying to kill me." Jack replied airily. Too lightly for someone to be joking in such a dire situation.

"I'd hardly call what I'm trying to do 'killing you'." Said the same bubbly voice from before. "Now hold still, handsome."

"I'd rather not." Jack said caustically. "Look Miko, I'm busy trying to live and _not_ get my bones jumped, so-"

"Wait a minute." The bubbly voice turned from vapid to insanely angry. "Are you talking to another _girl_?" she snarled.

"Uh oh!" Jack muttered. "Really gotta go." He said and the phone went dead.

"So, Jack's okay?" Raf asked.

Miko flushed at what she heard Jack say before he hung up. "Uh, aside from the fact he's fighting a female demon trying to kill him along with trying to jump his bones, then yeah, he's okay."

"Jump his bones? What's that mean?" Raf asked naïvely.

Miko smiled patronizingly at him. "Ask your parents, I'm sure they'll tell you." She looked up at the medic. "Did you find the signal?"

"Yes, but its right in the middle of the Pacific Ocean." Ratchet replied.

"Yeah, but this is the underworld we're talking about." Miko retorted. "So it's under the ocean floor." She finished.

Bulkhead looked at the screen. "Raf, are there any entrances to the Demon World in Europe?"

"Greece is where some of them are supposed to be." Raf said and typed in 'Passages to the underworld' on his laptop. "so far I've only found one that directly mentions a way, but that's underwater too."

"But what about the Demon World itself?" Bumblebee questioned. "None of us _know_ anything about ."

This time, the Prime answered. "I think it is time we speak with this 'Dante.'"

A

"How long have we been running for?" Jack questioned as he ran at an inhuman speed just behind Vergil.

"It doesn't matter so long as we reach the Trismagia." Vergil replied without looking back.

"Does _anything_ matter in this wasteland?" Jack bit out.

"Survival." Vergil replied bluntly.

Jack sighed as he watched everything pass him in a blur. When he realized that as a half-breed he could run this fast, he had smacked himself on the forehead at his own stupidity and cowardice. Even thug he had accepted what he was a while back, he had been a bit afraid of _what_ he could exactly do with his 'natural abilities.' But running faster and being stronger than a human wasn't so bad.

He should try out for the track team at school once this is all over.

On second thought, no probably not. His mother wouldn't be too pleased if he abused his powers.

A large shadow fell over him and he looked up and stopped in his tracks. "Whoa." He breathed and stared up at a large mansion made of dark red bricks and had an oriental design to it. "Hey d-uncle, let's make a rest stop here."

"Really, you're tired already?" Vergil asked mockingly. "Then again, you _are_ a _child_."

Jack frowned behind his mouth guard. "No, I figured we could _both_ use the rest, _old man_." He snapped and smirked to himself as the older hybrid frowned at him. "After all, when's the next time we may actually _see_ a house?" he questioned.

Vergil's eyes narrowed in thought before he nodded. "Stay on your guard, _child._" He said and before Jack could move, the younger hybrid was hoisted off the ground by the back of his neck.

"Why do you always do this?" he muttered.

"I don't know." Vergil said plainly and Jack knew it was the truth. "Perhaps it's because you're the youngest demon I've seen so far."

_'So far?'_ Jack thought but remained silent as Vergil carried him to the house. The closer they got though, the more Jack realized the bricks weren't bricks at all, but globs of dried up congealed blood. "Disgusting." He whispered.

"What else were you expecting?" Vergil questioned. Jack had no reply.

What _was_ he supposed to expect? Jack knew the Demon World worked differently than the Human World, but he didn't think it also extended to making a house out of dried over blood. Again, _disgusting._ Hopefully the inside wouldn't gross him out so much.

And for the first time since he arrived in the Demon World, he wasn't disappointed.

The inside was a posh interior that reminded him a hotel penthouse and had a fancy red stair case that was a made of a red material that was thankfully _not_ blood.

"Wow." Jack said as Vergil dropped him and he was allowed to move around.

"Hn." Was all Vergil said. Jack though wondered whether being able to understand the 'hns' his father let out was a good thing.

A bubble giggle was heard from on top of the staircase. "I'm so glad you like our home, we spent years trying to maintain it."

Jack looked up and felt himself gap behind his mouth guard. On top of the staircase was the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen. She had short green hair and pale green skin; her eyes a deep red. She was wearing a form fitting billowing black dress that had a slight up to the thigh on both sides.

_'I don't think I've ever seen a prettier woman before.' _Jack thought.

_'What about Arcee?'_ his inner demon quipped.

_'Who?'_ Jack thought blankly.

His demon half radiated disbelief before giving his human half a mental kick, a very hard mental kick.

_'Ow! What was that for?'_ Jack thought angrily.

_'I figured something was wrong since you forgot about your crush on Arcee.'_ His inner demon replied.

_'Hn, what's going on?'_ Jack thought, but before he could ask, Vergil spoke first.

"We're leaving, Jack." He said without hesitation.

"What? Why?" Jack asked confused.

"It's no wise to turn your back on another demon, especially a female or a succubus." Vergil answered. "Which she is." He added scathingly. "They catch you then they'll drain you of your blood."

"Metal skin, remember?" Jack asked rhetorically.

"And what pretty skin it is too!" The succubus cooed. "Don't you think so, Pluia?"

"Whatever." A voice muttered from above them and they saw a female demon with green skin to and feathery wings crouching on the door banister, her hawk-like eyes staring balefully at them. "Scales is mine though." She hissed and expanded her wings; a flap causing a bunch of sharp feathers to shoot straight at Vergil, who expertly dodged.

"He's right," The succubus purred from behind Jack, "you should watch your back with me."

Jack whirled round and barely dodged the claw that was aimed at his face. _'Guess I should've listened to what dad said.'_

_'Yeah, probably should have.'_

Ring…ring…ring…

"Well crap." Jack muttered and he reluctantly took his cell phone out of his pocket. "Hello?" he was in a dire situation, but that didn't mean he had to be rude.

"Jack!" It was Miko. "Are you okay?"

Where had he heard that before? "Déjà vu." Jack retorted and let out a yelp as the succubus scratched his mouth guard. "Get away from me!"

"Jack, what's going on?" Miko asked.

"Uh, you didn't exactly call at the best time." Jack replied, the succubus giggling and the Pluia still cawing and firing sharp feathers at his father, who looked at him with a snarl.

"This is why you shouldn't turn your back on them!"

"I know that now!" Jack retorted sharply.

"Jack, what's going on? You sound like you're in trouble." Miko said.

"Nothing out of the ordinary: just a demon trying to kill me." Jack replied with forced breeziness.

The succubus had a look of faux hurt on her face. "I'd hardly call what I'm trying to do, 'killing you'!" she said in a bubbly voice. "Now hold still, handsome."

The compliment only served to slight Jack. "I'd rather not." He replied caustically. "Look Miko, I'm busy trying to live and _not_ get my bones jumped, so-"

"Wait a minute." The succubus' voice did a 180 and became jealously angry. "Are you talking to another _girl?_" she snarled.

"Uh oh." Jack muttered. "Really gotta go." He said before putting the call to an end and putting it back in his pocket.

The succubus reared her claws back and hissed. "No one ignores me and gets away with it, handsome or not." She waved her hands in his direction and black lightning shot out at him.

"Ahh!" Jack had never felt this much pain, even when he had been hit by those lightning demons. It felt like every fibre of his being was being electrocuted.

He felt his bow get knocked out of his hand and felt the succubus try and pry his face guard off. He was taught to never hit girls, but he was sure this situation didn't count as he was trying to save his own save; so he slashed his own claws at the succubus' face and knocked her off him.

Jack rolled over to his bow and picked it up to see the succubus holding her face and fired twice. One ice arrow hit her in the neck and the other got her in the chest; causing her to begin to freeze over.

She stared at him with unblinking eyes, the deep marks in her face bleeding out. "I admit defeat. Take my soul as your prize before I am fully destroyed."

Jack blinked in honest shock. "Uh, sure."

The succubus grinned sneakily as her body shattered and a bright light came toward Jack, who held out his hand and pulled it back holding a green flute with a black lightning mark on it. "What…?"

A screeching caw echoed in Jack's ears as squelching sound followed. He turned to see a bloody mess of a dead Pluia with Vergil's claws soaked in her blood.

"Kill or be killed." He stated coldly as he wiped off the blood using a nearby curtain. "We rest, then we leave." He said in a tone that left no room for argument. "Understood?"

Jack nodded without hesitation.


	12. Chapter 12

Jack stared at the soul plane with a furrowed brow, a frown hidden by his mouth guard. He decided it was better to not understand why he was still in trigger form even when asleep.

He had bigger things to deal with.

Like why it looked like the soul plane seemed to be getting older and dustier by the minute. "What the hell happened to this place?"

"I have to say, if this is my new home; it's dump." A new and disturbingly familiar voice said.

Jack cautiously looked to see the succubus he had just killed standing there without a mark on her face or acting like nothing happened earlier. "Um, new home, I thought you were dead."

The succubus smirked. "Not true; in a sense anyway. "You see, once a defeated demon's soul is claimed, they become a weapon for the victor." She grimaced. "I'm just glad I was fighting you and _not_ your father."

Jack froze up. "You _know_ that he's my dad?"

"Of course." She replied easily, like it was obvious.

_'He doesn't know, but other demons do?_' Jack thought incredulously. _'He's not gonna like that.' _He added. "Um, do you have a name I could call you?"

She grinned slyly. "You can call me whatever you like, handsome." She purred trying to move closer to him.

Jack put his hands up. "I think we should have a three feet rule, and, uh, you should probably tell me what _you_ want to be called."

"So thoughtful." She murmured appreciatively. "Not many like that; like you." Jack really didn't want her to tell him what she meant by that. "Fine, you can call me Alto."

Jack blinked. "Uh, nice name."

Alto preened. "You really think so?"

A sudden glare of high beams washed over them and Jack lifted a hand to cover his face and blinked blearily once the lights went out. He knew who it was, what caught him off guard was the look on Knock Out's faceplate. His optics darted to Alto, and the three feet rule she was clearly trying to violate.

His red optics narrowed and he smoothly stepped between them, nearer to Jack and forcing Alto to back off. "Who are you and how did you get here?" he asked rather rudely.

"I'm Alto, and like I already told Jack, this is my new home." Alto huffed arrogantly. "I'm Jack's newest weapon, so I live here now."

"Hn." Knock Out sneered. "Nice hair. Green, really?"

Alto glared at him and sniffed haughtily. "Nice face."

Knock Out smirked. "Certainly better than yours." He said arrogantly. "Don't you think so, Jack?"

It took Jack a moment to realize that the red mech was not only talking to him, but he also said his name. Hell, he figured Red didn't even _remember_ his name. Or didn't bother to anyway. "Does it really matter?" he asked blandly.

"Yes." They both snapped and looked at him.

Jack looked between them and really couldn't answer for harm to his body. "I _really_ can't answer that."

Alto surprisingly backed down first, but there was a cheeky grin on her red lips. "That's okay, we can get to know each other later on, honey." She purred and sauntered away off, the tail of her dress billowing in an unmoving wind.

"Bitch." Knock Out hissed and turned to Jack with a harsh glare. "And _you._ Where have _you_ been?"

"The Demon World." Jack answered. Then he went onto more pressing matters. "Why does this place look like scrap?"

"That's entirely your fault." Knock Out retorted.

"My fault? How is this my fault?" Jack asked in disbelief.

"Because of your _absence_, this place is weakening." Knock Out explained. "While neither of us wanted this bond in the first place, the soul plane had been rather stable, all things considered. But with you being 'out of range' so to speak, it is becoming _un_stable."

"How do we fix it?" Jack questioned quietly.

The way Red's faceplate twisted up told Jack he wouldn't like the solution. "We have to…strengthen our bond."

_'Well, scrap.'_ He knew he wouldn't like the idea.

Jack subconsciously began to back away. "What?"

Red stared at him with a baleful glare and lashed his arm out, grabbing a hold of Jack's arm. "You heard me." He muttered. "At least you wore your nice shiny armour for this." He had to admit he liked the look of the gleaming white metal that acted as a protective second skin under Jack's clothes.

He felt his spark heat up and after all, shouldn't they _both_ at least enjoy this rather than it being just a solution to fix the soul plane? He slowly pushed up Jack's sleeve and ran a digit over the metal skin, eliciting a shiver from the teen.

"What are you doing?" he asked suspiciously.

"I figured there's no reason for neither of us to enjoy this." Knock Out said smirking.

"Careful, I'd almost be tempted to think that you care about me." Jack retorted.

The red 'Con paused as he traced his digit long the arm and up to the neck. "I don't care." He said apathetically, but didn't dare touch the face. It'd be simply too personal if he did. "Besides, we _are_ spark-bonded after all. And this is what spark-mates do."

Jack looked at him with some uncertainty before taking the time to _really_ look at Knock Out. And he was forced to admit that despite the blind hate he held for him, he was very good-looking. "Okay, you're right." He said and tentatively brushed his own free hand along the 'Con's arm plating, his claws not even scraping at the paint. Then he remembered something. "That's right, we can heal faster now."

As if a switch had been flicked, Knock Out tackled Jack to the ground. "That's right isn't it?" he muttered. "And as much as I don't like it, we're on equal footing here."

"Heh, you make it sound like a bad thing." Jack retorted sardonically.

"It is." Knock Out shot back tersely.

Any retort Jack had was cut off when their chests met and the tendrils appeared. Knock Out immediately tried to find the location of the Autobot's base, but to his surprise and frustrated disbelief, he couldn't find it because the second entity seemed to be guarding that information.

Though he did find something interesting.

"You like Arcee, huh?" he hissed.

The misty, unfocused look in Jack's red eyes didn't diminish. "Yeah, I d-" Then he seemed to realize exactly _who_ he was talking too. "Uh, I mean, no, I don't." he rectified.

The damage had already been done though, as Knock Out grabbed Jack by his hair. "I saw your memories of her. This is supposed to be about _us_, now lose the face mask."

Jack nearly balked. He didn't know _how_ to remove it, and he had a fair idea about what Knock Out wanted. He bit his lip and tried to concentrate. A moment later he felt the pressure of his mask slide off his face and Red stared at him critically. "What?" he snapped, even as he fought against the haze clouding his vision.

"I always believed that touching the face made things too personal, but right now, I don't really care." Knock Out said blandly, like he _wasn't_ about to do what Jack thought he was going to do.

But he did.

Jack, sad to say, had never been kissed before (and mommy kisses don't count obviously), so it was really weird thinking his first kiss came from an alien robot. A 'Con nonetheless, even though he was technically registered _as_ a Decepticon-and wasn't that always a cheery thought?

The lips against his felt smooth and cold, the cold being a twisted comfort from the extremely hot climate he was currently, or even the general climate of Nevada.

Just as Jack closed his eyes, his suddenly felt the lips and weight on him disappear and snapped open. To stare right into another pair of red eyes. His hand subconsciously went to his face, feeling the metallic face mask still in place.

"What?" he asked groggily.

"Time to leave." Vergil said apathetically.

Jack nodded and staggered to his feet from the hard bed he had slept on. "So, how far until we reach the Trismagia?"

"Not far. We could have been there by now if you didn't insist we stop to rest." Vergil replied coldly.

"But don't we _need_ sleep?" Jack asked carefully.

Vergil again stared at him with a look that suggested Jack was an idiot. "In this place, being dead and being asleep have very little difference."

Jack frowned to himself. "I think I get it, d-uncle."

* * *

><p>"Oof!"<p>

Knock Out face planted into the asphalt as the organic just up and disappeared. He looked around at the newly fixed soul plane before glaring back at where Jack had been lying beneath him. "How _dare_ he leave _me_ wanting."

There was a sarcastic giggle. "Usually I'm not into voyeurism, but _damn_, that was hot." She then sneered. "Just remember though, I'm vying for him."

Knock Out glared at her as he got back up. "You think you can compete with me?" he challenged. "I'm his…mate. You're just his tool."

Alto glared back at him with equal force and sparks of black lightning seemed to emit from her. "Watch it, Reddy." She hissed. "Do _you_ think it matters that you're his 'mate?' I'm a succubus, a demon, a supernatural being if you will."

"Your point?" Knock Out asked in boredom.

Alto sneered. "My point is; I will always have more in common with Jack than _you_. Besides, from what I can tell, there's a major love-hate thing going on between you two, heavy on the hate."

"I'm well aware of how it is between us." Knock Out retorted scathingly. "You better keep away from him, _or else_."

"Or else what?" Alto cackled. "Face it, while I'm Jack's weapon, I'm _never_ going away. So you better get used to seeing me here."

The red 'Con glared at her until he disappeared from the soul plane.

* * *

><p>Dante Sparda was going over the last 3 days in his mind. Finding out he nephew had been taken to the same place his brother-and he himself had gone for a brief period of time-was. He had spent the first two days trying to figure out a way to get to the Demon World without the use of Temen-ni-gru.<p>

So far he had been stumped.

It almost made him resent the fact he hadn't asked Lady or Trish to come along. Almost. Lady and June had gotten along fairly enough, but all the comments about Dante looking exactly like Vergil made June hit Dante each time he asked her out to show she wasn't interested in him. And well, Trish and June just hadn't met, so it would've been awkward.

Then just yesterday evening when he had been out to get pizza, he had been approached by this teenage girl with pink and black hair in a large armoured van. She had rather bluntly stated that she had information on how to save Jack.

That alone had put him on the defensive, but when he tried to sniff out any demons, he relaxed, only slightly though as he now knew she was all human.

He had asked her what she knew and the girl in turn replied that he needed to see something.

…And holy shit was he surprised to find out alien robots existed. Then again, why should he be surprised? Dante had very reluctantly agreed to let them help him as long as he didn't tell June. He secretly thought she'd find out anyway.

Currently, Dante was checking to make sure had his sword Rebellion as the medic created a 'ground bridge' set to Greece; the apparent destination of Jack.

"Aww, you mean we can't go?" Miko whined.

"This is the Demon World we're talking about. If your skin isn't metal or you don't have an instant regeneration ability, then you're a liability." Dante explained bluntly.

Raf winced. "He's right, we have neither. Those demons would tear us apart."

"Damn straight they would." Dante stated before running into the ground bridge. "Now let's go save my nephew!"


	13. Chapter 13

"Who does she think she is?" Knock Out muttered to himself as he surveyed Megatron's vitals. "Next time I see her, she's _dead_…deader, anyway."

The buffer was clicked off as Breakdown looked at Knock Out. "I've been listening to you mutter death threats against this 'she?' Now who is it so I can get back to work."

Half-surprised by the bluntness, but not bothered by it _too_ much, Knock Out took the listening audio with both hands. "She's this bitch named Alto. She's my organic's weapon, and I caught her trying to seduce him. She even _dared_ to watch us _spark!_" he griped, not noticing how his assistant recoiled at his crass.

"And Alto is…?" Breakdown trailed off annoyed. Maybe he should've just let Knock Out keep on muttering to himself.

"A succubus, a demon with red eyes and green hair and skin. She also has the nerve to compete with _me_. And not only do I have to deal with Alto in the soul plane, but Arcee out here-"

"Wait, you mean the Autobot femme?" Breakdown asked in surprise.

Knock Out nodded tersely. "My organic had a crush on her. And apparently she has no idea how he feels. And it's going to stay that way if I have anything to say about it." He hissed.

Breakdown smirked. "Well, nothing can stand in the way of jealous rage, huh?"

Knock Out punched the counter. "I'm _not_ jealous!" he snarled. "It's just that, the organic is _mine_. Not Alto's, not Arcee's, but _mine_.

"Heh, in a twisted sort of way, it almost sound like you care about him." Breakdown muttered.

Knock Out glared at him. "That's almost exactly what he said, and I _don't care!_"

* * *

><p>"Wow, those were some strange looking lakes." Jack said aloud as they reached the last stretch of their journey. "So, where are they?"<p>

"Up ahead." Vergil stated simply, but Jack heard a slight inflection in his voice. It was the closest thing to excitement that Jack had ever heard from him.

_'Just what the hell did my mom see in him?´_ Jack wondered not for the first time since they met.

At first, he'd been excited and happy to finally have a father…the novelty though, wore off _fast_. The guy was a jerk, cold, and seemed to ignore him as much as possible without actually abandoning him.

_'Doesn't your parents situation have any parallels with your?'_ his inner demon asked slyly.

Jack grimaced behind his mask. He wanted to deny it, but couldn't. His mother and father hadn't liked each other at first, and his mom had implied they had started out as friends and had grown to like each other. And while Jack and Knock Out didn't like each other, was there even a chance to entertain the very _idea_ being friends first and let them get used to this and ignore the whole 'bond thing' for now?

And while his parent situation seemed similar to his, he doubted his mother had some third love interest or someone persistently mooning after her. Almost subconsciously, Jack looked at the black and green flute being occupied in his hand as he carried his bow over his shoulder. He also remembered the look on Red's faceplate when he had seen Alto standing so close to him.

It was a look of loathing and…jealously.

"We're here." Vergil stated quietly, breaking Jack out of his thoughts. Jack looked around and the landscape and could almost call it nice.

There was a bunch of high rocks surrounding them and there was no wind blowing sand in their faces. He looked up ahead and blinked at the three, three-eyed disembodied head floating above them. Deciding that "You're the oracles?" sounded rude, he instead asked, "How d-"

"-you're father lose his memory?" The first head finished.

Vergil stiffened and slowly looked at Jack like he didn't know whether to tear him apart or eviscerate him. "You're my son? And you never told me?" he growled.

Jack flinched. "I didn't think you'd believe me."

Vergil glowered at him and soundly smashed his fist against Jack's skull. "Better I think you're my son than my nephew."

Jack staggered to his feet and rubbed a clawed metal hand against his head. "Yeah, probably deserved that." He grumbled and looked at the Trismagia. "So, how'd it happen?"

The middle head answered. "Demons threw the weakened Vergil into the Lake of Forgetfulness thinking he'd drown, the only way to reverse it is for him to drink the water from the Lake of Memory."

"And that lake is…?" Jack prompted.

"The lake furthest from the lakes you passed on your way here. It will have the cleanest water to tell it apart from the others to help you identify it." The third head answered.

"Aw, we just passed it too." Jack mumbled. Then he nodded at the Trismagia. "Thank you for your help. We are completely clueless as to what we had to do."

"We know." The three heads answered together.

Jack's brow ticked. "No need to rub it in."

"Yes, we do." The three oracles answered again.

Jack's brow ticked again, but he decided it was better to keep his mouth shut this time.

* * *

><p>"So, you're a demon hunter?"<p>

Dante looked up at the big green bot. "Yes."

"But you're a demon yourself." The same bot answered. "Isn't that a little…hypocritical?"

Dante stopped in his tracks and clenched his gloved hands. _"Look._ I may not have had a choice to what I was born as, but I sure as hell have a choice on how I live my life, so _back off_!" he snarled.

The only sound afterwards was the sound of Dante's boots hitting the ground as he stomped off. He supposed the fact that his nephew had been kidnapped and taken to the Demon World was making him more volatile than usual.

Hell, he didn't even _want_ to accept their help, but the red and blue bot had put up a good argument and stated that Jack may not _know_ him. Which was true, kid was only four when he and his mom left; so there was no chance Jackie would even _remember_ him, let alone _know_ him.

* * *

><p>He had no idea how he was supposed to feel about having a son.<p>

He supposed he should feel…proud. If only it wasn't for that blasted memory loss, he _might_ have felt something.

Still, Vergil had no idea _why_ he'd smashed his fist into Jack's skull, he supposed though it had been retribution for the fact the child had lied to him all this time.

Had Jack _known_ he was his son since they'd met? Is so, it _would _explain why Jack had asked about family when he'd been digging those shards out of his back.

All he knew for sure at this point would be that getting back his memory would put _both_ their minds at ease and answer all the question he had wanted to originally ask Jack rather than as to what his _name _was.


	14. Chapter 14

Alto was busy snooping around the soul plane she was now forced to live in, but if it kept her closer to Jack, it was definitely worth it. She grinned; wondering if his human form was just as good-looking as his demon form. Albeit, a very strange-looking demon form, but then again, that's what made him so hot.

No pun intended of course.

She heard tires burning rubber on the asphalt and smirked as she looked behind to see a red sports car driving straight at her. She dodged at the last second and whirled around just as the car transformed. "Back for round 2?" she asked cockily, her hands crackling with black electricity.

"You meant here was a round 1?" Knock Out asked smirking as he brought out his energon prod.

Alto didn't miss a beat. "Of course there was. I won it when you left with me having the last word." She grinned.

"I knew I should've silenced that mouth of yours last time." Knock Out hissed and struck out at her.

Alto smirked again as she ducked. She brought her fist back and punched the ' Con, causing him to spasm on the ground. "You really should be more careful. Metal conducts electricity after all." She laughed.

Knock Out grabbed a hold of Alto's ankle and threw her like a rag doll in the wall of the opposite building. "Conduct that, bitch!" he snarled.

Alto let out a groan of anguish as she got up and found she had been thrown through a wall. She dusted herself off and looked around. It was a rather nice place to be thrown into. It was posh and almost as her former home in the Demon World. She decided to let Knock Out have his 'victory' and let his temper cool off as she abandoned the fight for curiosity of this place.

Alto walked down the blue painted hall and found two doors on either side of her. The only two doors in the entire building if the fact the hall just stopped at these two. She saw that one plack read 'Jack' while the other read 'Knock Out.'

She slowly grinned. "Rooms? No way." Her grin faded into a pout. "Wonder why I don't get my own."

She turned the crystalline doorknob on Jack's door and when it opened, she saw a lot of bright, pulsing sparks of yellow. "Cute." She muttered and reached out to the first one she saw, and in a small explosion of light, Alto suddenly found herself in a fancy and much nicer room than before.

"What the slag did you do?"

Alto looked over her shoulder to find that Knock Out was just three feet away from her. "Hmmp. I'm not sure actually."

"Well, this place just _changed." _Knock Out hissed. "It shouldn't do that unless…" he trailed off before wandering into the next room.

"Unless what?" Alto echoed, her previous hostility being replaced by more curiosity. What did he know? She trailed off after him and had to stifle a gasp.

The room showed a young dark-haired lady sitting on the floor and holding up a little dark-haired baby on their feet. "Come one, Jack, you can do it." She cooed.

Alto stood there looking wide-eyed. "Who's that?" she asked aloud, not even caring for the fact it was _Knock Out_ beside her.

"From what I can gather. She's the organics mother." Knock Out answered, causing alto to nod slightly.

"And how are we seeing this?" she asked tonelessly.

A little thrown off by the succubus' almost demure and docile change, Knock Out answered without any scathing comment. "This bond can show very early memories that even the bondies forget. It isn't just about sparking you know."

"Uh-huh." Alto replied, still staring blankly at the endearing scene.

Just when Baby Jack was about to take a step, another person came into the room. A certain white-haired someone. Baby Jack squealed excitedly and he all but toddled over to the man, only tripping up on his last steps. The man though caught him before he could hit the ground.

"Da, da, da, da, da!" he babbled giddily, waving his arms around wildly.

"Awww!" The woman cooed. "Look, Vergil, he's happy to see you! Isn't that adorable?"

Vergil held Jack at arm's length, looking a bit awkward. "If you say so, June."

June rolled her eyes. "He's _one_, Vergil. You shouldn't be still scared to hold your own son properly."

Vergil scowled at her. "I'm not scared." He huffed. "I just…he's just so small though…and fragile."

June rolled her eyes again and walked over to him. "You were like this too once you know." She said and her eyes widened and pouted. "_Please?_"

Vergil's lips thinned, and his expression wavered. "That look should be banned." He deadpanned and brought Jack closer to his chest before wrapping his arms around him.

June grinned. "Least I didn't use my tears against you." She chuckled.

The scene faded and both Knock Out and Alto had ended up back outside.

"That man, he looked just-" Knock Out began.

"-Jack." Alto finished. "That's because that man's his father."

Knock Out blinked, looking very surprised. "The organic has a living father? All this time I thought his Sire was dead."

Alto rolled her eyes. "Not dead, just gone. There's a difference you know."

"There is?" Knock Out sounded dubious.

"Of course there is." Alto though sounded smug that she finally got one up on her 'rival.' "You can die of course, _or_ you are still alive and are in hell, _or_ you get turned into a demon."

"That can happen?" Knock Out sounded really dubious now.

"Of course." Alto still sounded smug, and even a little sad. She ran a finger over her wrist. "Few demons are ever truly born. And most are humans who got turned into demons. Like me." She muttered the last part.

"You?" Alto's head jerked up and saw Knock Out looking at her with an unreadable expression. "You were…_human_?"

Alto nodded. "Ironic, huh?"

"That I'm competing with a recycled human or that with that information, you _stil_l have more in common with my organic?"

Alto grinned. "Both." She said snidely. Then she sobered up. "I'll tell you why I want Jack, but _you_ must swear you'll never tell him."

"I'll think about it." Knock Out smirked, but was taken back-literally-when Alto's well kept, manicured hand wrapped around his throat in a vice grip, her red eyes blazing brightly. "You will _not_ tell him!" she snarled.

In the brief time they'd known and disliked each other, Knock Out had never seen Alto so…hostile. And from his own personal experience, 'Cons got really vicious when they were looking out for that rare someone. "O-okay." He choked out.

Alto let go of his neck and pulled her hand back, still glaring at him though. "Okay, here's what happened…"

* * *

><p>"This is the one."<p>

Jack looked down into the clear, white water and couldn't help but say, "I think I know that." Only to get hit upside the head. But hey, it was better than getting a skull fracture.

His mom wouldn't probably be so happy to see his dad if that did happen. Even if they had been apart for so long.

_'Accelerating healing, you dolt._' His inner demon snapped.

_'Whatever.'_ Jack returned and saw from the corner of his eye that Vergil had knelt down.

The older hybrid cupped a pool of water into his scaly claws and brought them up to his lips. The second he downed it, a lifetime of memories flashed before his eyes.

His childhood…Dante…his mother's death…feeling isolated and angry…his travels…meeting June…dating her, then marrying her…a baby…_Jack_…meeting an older Dante...dropping into the Demon World…and then being thrown into the Lake of Forgetfulness.

"Dad?" Vergil could practically feel the concern oozing out of Jack-his _teenage_ son.

"You never did tell me how long I was down here." He muttered.

"15 years." Jack mumbled.

"15." Vergil repeated as he stood back up. If his own son was 16, the teen being _one_ when he left, then that meant…

No, he wouldn't start thinking about the _other_ now. He never had when he still _had_ his memories. And unless by some hand of fate, he wouldn't start thinking about it now.

"Let's go, I'm certain we'll find a way out. The Demon World _has_ it's short cuts after all." He stated.

Jack decided his dad may be right, and made no other action than to nod his head.

* * *

><p><span>"We're here.<span>" Bumblebee beeped.

Bulkhead and Optimus stopped, but Dante only stopped cause they did. "What's the hold up?" he asked annoyed.

"We are here." Optimus repeated.

Dante's somber and pissed off expression vanished, but he only scowled as he looked at the lake they were at. "Figures the entrance would be underwater. Well, come on." He grumbled and dove in.

The Autobots hesitated momentarily before jumping as well.


	15. Chapter 15

"I wonder how long I've been gone." Jack muttered as he and his father continued trying to find a 'short-cut.' Too bad tracking wasn't a demon ability, at least, not in the scent variety.

"Stop." Vergil said suddenly and Jack obeyed. He sniffed and his tone turned to the closest thing to disbelief that Jack ever heard from the man. "This can't be possible."

"What is it?" Jack asked.

"My brother's scent. He's _here_." Vergil replied.

Jack sniffed, but remembered that smell couldn't pass through metal; so he'd have to take his father's word for it. "You sure?"

"Positive. Follow me." Vergil said before starting to run.

Jack followed after him and soon saw _three_ vehicles. _'No way, they came to get me?'_ he thought feeling touched.

They stopped just as the vehicles stopped. Jack barely had time to blink before he was lifted off the ground by a red blur.

"I can't believe how much you've grown!" Dante chuckled before putting Jack back on the ground. "You were just this high the last time I saw you." He said putting his hand at knee-high level.

Jack finally blinked as he looked at the face which was a lot happier looking than his father's expression, and looked just like his own by extension, only paler of course. "Uncle Dante?"

Dante grinned. "So you_ do_ remember me, huh?"

Jack shook his head. "No. My mom just told me about you, that's all."

"Oh." Dante looked visibly deflated and he looked over at his twin. "Vergil."

"Dante."

Jack looked between their mini glaring contest and went over to the 'vehicles.' "Am I ever glad to see you mechs. How'd you know where to look anyway?"

"Raf told us about this passage way to the Demon World." Bumblebee beeped.

"Guess I owe him one." Jack mumbled.

"Uh, Jack, why do you look like that?" Bulkhead asked tentatively, fearing another outburst like the one Dante had given him.

"This is my demon form." Jack explained. "I think the shard that got lodged in my chest had something to do with that. Still, I look pretty cool, don't I?"

"Very cool." Bumblebee beeped again.

"Jack, the man with you, is that your Sire?" Optimus questioned.

"Him? Yeah, that's my dad." Jack nodded.

"He doesn't _look_ like you." Bumblebee pointed out.

Jack shrugged. "That's his demon form. I assume I might have had something similar to his, but oh well. I like form just fine." He then called out to the still glaring brothers. "Let's go, I wanna get the hell outta here."

Dante was by his side in a flash of red as he put an arm around Jack's shoulder. "Jackie, two pizzas says June kicks Verge's ass for being away for 15 years."

"Would it be too much to simply leave Dante here?" Vergil asked blankly.

"Dad!" Jack rebuked. "We can't leave Uncle Dante here! Is that how you deal with all your problems? Abandon them?"

"No, he pretty much just tries to kill 'em." Dante added bitterly as Vergil glared at him.

Jack shrugged the hand off his shoulder as he headed over to Optimus. "Whatever then. Let's just go home."

"Home." Vergil repeated thoughtfully. "That is the most sensible thing I've heard you say yet."

Jack didn't know whether to treat that as an insult or a compliment, so he just settled for a silent nod.

* * *

><p>Jack stared up at the sky and the sun, not caring that his eyes were starting to burn from the glare. It had felt like forever since he had last seen the sun, and when he finally managed to tear his gaze away, eye flashing with Technicolor, he saw his dad looking around at the forest and trees with intense focus.<p>

Jack realized that if it felt like forever since _he_ had seen the Human World, then it must have felt longer to his dad, though he was sure they both looked out of place since they were still in their demon forms.

He looked off to the side and saw Dante walking up, the three Autobots in robot form and waiting patiently on the sidelines. "Guys, you both need to change back to your human forms." He said.

Jack and Vergil both concentrated and their forms began to shift back to 'human.' Jack looked down at his hands to see that they were clawless and tan again, the look of them feeling foreign to having spent who-knows-how-long in his demon form. Jack tried to walk, but he felt incredibly drained and nearly keeled over had Dante not caught him.

"What the hell?" Jack groaned.

"Yeah, you lose energy once you change back to your 'regular' form. Guess no one told you this, huh?" Dante asked ruefully.

Jack shook his head and there was a thudding sound. He looked over to see his dad in his human form, passed out on the ground. He figured that since his father had been using in his demon form longer than him, passing out _would_ be the appropriate action.

Dante shook his head and looked over at Bumblebee. "Yo, 'Bee, can you carry Jackie for me? Looks like I gotta drag my brother through the bridge."

"What? I don't need to be carried." Jack retorted indignantly as he brushed Dante's hands off his shoulders and tried to walk, "See, I'm oka-" he tripped over his own foot and tumbled to the ground, letting out another groan. "Alright, you win." He relented as Bumblebee picked him up.

"Heh, never thought I'd ever hear someone say _that_ to me." Dante smirked as he lifted his unconscious twin over his shoulder. "As I parrot my nephew, let's go home."

After the ground bridge was activated, they all went through and entered the Autobot's silo base, the bridge closing behind them. "I have a question, Uncle Dante; how long was I gone for?"

Dante put on a look of concentration, an expression that looked fairly painful for him to do. "Let's see now…" he began mouthing a few words then his expression brightened. "You've been gone for a month!"

Jack stared at him. He was gone for an entire month? That did it, if the transition back into a human hadn't made him pass out, this news did.

* * *

><p>"Hello, Jaaack." Alto crooned as she saw the black-haired teen appear and had to pause and admire him. She was right, he was just as good-looking as a human as he was in his demon form.<p>

Jack blinked at her. "Hello, Alto, how are you?"

Alto beamed as she sauntered up to him, draping her arms around his neck. "A whole lot better now that you're here." She purred.

Jack blushed and moved away. "Really, you were upset before?"

Alto pouted as he moved away, but nodded. "Yeah, Knock Out tried to kill me." She said in a baby voice.

"He did?" Jack raised a brow. "You sure you didn't do something to piss him off?"

"Nope." Alto replied. "I was just walking along and he came zooming in, and tried to run me down!" she clung onto Jack's arm. "But I assume that since your human form that you've made it back to the Human World?" she asked resting her head on his shoulder.

Jack didn't bother trying to get away from her, not that it was possible since he was sure his arm would get ripped off from the tight grip she had on him. "Yes, My dad and I are back, but I passed out since I found out I was gone a month." He lamented.

Alto raised one of her arms, keeping the other around the arm she had, and put her hand on his cheek, turning his face to her. "Well, now you're back." She smirked. "And I gotta say, you're human body certainly makes me glad you were the one who defeated me, handsome." She purred.

While Jack had a crush on Arcee, he still had to admit that Alto _was_ the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen, and nobody could really blame him for blushing at the compliments she gave him. That, and she actually seemed attracted to him. Speaking of which. "Alto, why do you like me?"

Alto paused, her arms staying right where they were. "Hmm, well, there's _a lot_ about you that _anyone_ would like. You're strong, handsome, kind, and most importantly, _rare._" She added looking at him with an odd intensity.

"Rare?" Jack repeated, though he knew what she was talking about. "Funny that you rarity seems more importantly to you than anything else."

"What can I," Alto shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly, "I like the elusive and someone of your half-breed status is as elusive as it comes."

"I see." Jack muttered, then noticed she had rested her head on his shoulder, her other hand landing on his neck.

"There must be something wrong with me, I wanna screw you, but I-grudgingly-respect Knock Out enough not to take his mate." She lamented woefully. "There must be something _very_ wrong with me."

Jack stared at her. Sure, he knew what type of demon she was and what they thrived on, but to actually hear her _say_ what she wanted from him and _restrain_ herself from going through with it had him mystified. Particularly with the fact she actually _respected_ Red, yet she griped he had tried to kill her.

Jack was sure though Alto had attacked Red back with equal force.

That gave him pause. "So, did you use your lightning on Red?"

Alto grinned as she looked up at him, her eyes glinting. "Yeah, you should have seen the look on his face." she snorted. "Your dumb mate obviously doesn't know his basic physics."

Jack rolled his eyes. "Glad to see you two are getting along."

* * *

><p>AN: And this chapter marks the end of the Demon World arc. Next chapter will be the aftermath.


	16. Chapter 16

"Ready?"

Jack looked from the corner of his eye up at Dante, who stood in front of the door to his home. "Yes." He answered resolutely and saw his dad nod stiffly at the unasked question directed toward him.

"Okay." Dante said before knocking on the door.

June opened the door and her face changed into a look of shock when she saw who was with Dante. Her eyes widened and she immediately pulled Jack into a hug. "You're really here." She whispered.

Jack hugged her back and felt a slight burning in his eyes. "Yeah mom, I'm here." He assured her. "Though, do you really wanna leave dad out?"

June let go of Jack and walked to stand in front of Vergil as she looked at him. Jack though was aware that they were both in need of clean clothes and a shower. "This isn't some dream that I'm gonna wake up alone to."

"No, this isn't a dream, June." Vergil replied in a voice that was less harsh than Jack heard when he spoke to him.

June reached out and linked her hands together around the back of the nape of the man's neck, then brought his head down and she kissed him.

Jack immediately averted his eyes and saw Dante making a face. "So, I'm just gonna, head inside now." he said embarrassedly as he kept his eyes anywhere but on his parents. He almost sprinted inside the house and took a detour to the garage.

There was still someone that he needed to see.

Jack opened the door and saw the blue motorcycle leaning against the wall. "Arcee?" he called. "I'm back."

"I can see that, and you look like you could use a change of clothes." Arcee replied.

Jack smiled lightly. Though waking up to remember he'd passed out after learning he'd been gone for a month was shocking, he'd been glad Arcee wasn't there to see it. "Yeah, I just came to see you before I went to take a shower." He grimaced slightly. "That and I needed to get away from seeing my parents make-out."

"Your parent?" Arcee questioned. "So the man that came back with you really is your Sire?"

Jack was about to nod when a thought struck him. "How did you know that?"

"Bumblebee commed me and said that you and your Sire were at the base." Arcee replied. "He also said that you passed out after hearing how long you'd been gone for."

_'Oh, I'm gonna get you, 'Bee_.' Jack thought darkly. "Well, I better get to the bathroom before dad is shoved in there." He said and went back to the door, though just before he closed the door, he looked back and said, "I missed you. I missed you a lot, just so you know."

He closed the door before he could get a reply. Though it was probably better that way.

* * *

><p>Jack felt honestly good about being out alone. Spending a previously undetermined time alone with someone who had, for the most part of his time in the Demon World been cold towards him, this felt nice. Though he still abided by his promise of carrying his guitar case with him, which now housed Alto's flute, as his mother nervously let him take a walk.<p>

But when Dante had comment on 'great minds, think alike' in regards to his guitar case, Vergil had sneered at his brother, and Jack had snuck off when his mother was trying to defuse their seemingly oncoming fight.

He hadn't wanted to leave Arcee without telling her where he was going, but truth was, time alone, meant time alone.

Which meant he just wanted to spend some time by himself.

And that meant no one else coming with him.

_'Wonder if I still have my job though._' Jack thought._ 'Wait, what about the amount of school I've missed, mom couldn't have been able to make up something that said I'd be away for a month._' He was starting to worry now.

A growl met his ears and he tensed up, his own sense of smell alerting him that this was…strange. Nothing like he's ever smelled before that's for sure. Even without looking for where the noise came from, he could tell that by the smell it wasn't quite a demon, but not half-something like he was.

Like he said, he didn't know what it was.

He cautiously grabbed his guitar case and opened it. He grabbed whatever he reached first as he turned around and saw what he was facing. It looked like cross between a dog and a machine. Some of it's limbs looked patched with metal and the chrome skull was on fire, a collar around it's neck read _Basilisk_.

The dog-thing growled again and Jack tensed up, bringing the flute closer to his lips. That only seemed to agitate it as it snarled at him, like it _knew_ what he was going to do.

Though Jack clearly knew setting the flute down would either get him killed or at least severely maimed, he decided to see where this went and whatever happened he had brought onto himself. He put the flute down slowly and stayed kneeled down as he kept one hand out.

The dog-thing stared at him for a moment longer before it slowly walked over to him, still growling, and Jack had to stop himself from bolting, though the fact his limbs seemed to have frozen in place stopped him.

'_You're doing this, aren't you?_' Jack thought.

_'Yeah. Don't worry though, you get bite, you'll heal up in a few hours…at best.'_ His inner demon replied nonchalantly.

_'Glad to see we both care what happens to our _only body_.'_ Jack thought sarcastically.

The dog-thing walked even closer and before Jack's eyes, the fire died down and the metal parts were overlapped suddenly with dark fur. If this was how his own transformation looked like to an outside source, he had to admit that it was a little strange.

The now normal looking dog sniffed his still outstretched hand and for tense moment, Jack really thought it was going to bite him. When it didn't, Jack was pleased to find he could at least move his outstretched hand and raised it cautiously to the dog's head and petted it.

Jack smiled somewhat shakily, as he could hear his heart beating in his ears. "G-good boy."

* * *

><p>For the most part, Knock Out was surprised to note that the soul plane hadn't started to disintegrate yet, especially since he hadn't seen Jack in a while.<p>

…The organic he meant, when had he started to think of him by his name?

Still, his experiment to try and enter the soul plane when awake had gone relatively well, though he was sure that by now his real body was standing in his quarters with the optics shut down.

_"…Notice the ones who like to criticize…Are the ones trying to hide…"_

Knock Out blinked his optics. Where was that coming from? He only then seemed to remember that _someone else_ also inhabited this place. Perhaps he should have a 'talk' with the organic about any future weapons he may acquire.

Mainly to just kill the demons rather than take their souls as weapons. If Alto was any indication, lovesick demons were the last thing he wanted to deal with when he went into recharge.

_"…Why would I sell my soul to be one of them?..."_

If from Knock Out could recall from what Alto told him of her human life, he had an inkling she was 'venting' given the amount of venom her voice had acquired. He followed the singing and found Alto in a place he hazard a guess she was now going to stay in.

"_…Better to love the me within behind the skin…I choose to be a goddess inside…"_

Alto gave no inclination that she heard the mech come into her room as she stared at her reflection in the mirror, a vengeful look crossing over her face.

"_Damn 'em all-I create my own perfection,  
>Damn 'em all in the face of their rejection,<br>Damn 'em all-well this dog will have its day…"_

Her expression softened into a smirk as she slowly looked over at Knock Out when she sang again,

_"…My garden's full of pretty men who couldn't stay away…"_

There was a silence as Knock Out stared back at her stonily. "Alto."

"Red." Alto retorted mockingly. "Oh, and if you were wondering at all, Jack was by earlier."

Knock Out gave no inclination about caring. "That so?" he questioned dryly.

Alto nodded. "Yes, he's out of the Demon World now, just thought you'd like to know." She said airily.

"Hn." Knock Out turned away, now that his curiosity was sated, his ingrained distaste for Alto kicked in. "How nice." He said flatly. "Suppose I should prepare for when I see him next."

Alto stared after him before shaking her head. _'He cares about Jack it seems, just not that much.'_

* * *

><p>AN: 'Basilisk' _is_ actually canon and not just something that was made up. Uh, well, its made up of several things, but Jack doesn't know that.

And the lyrics Alto was singing was 'Medusa' by Heather Dale.


	17. Chapter 17

Jack stared down at the deceptively normal looking dog and grimaced before opening the door to his home and walked in, the dog following after him. "Mom?"

"Yes Jac-" June stopped midway and looked at the dog. "Jack, where did you find that?"

"Er, he kinda found me." Jack replied lamely.

"What's that smell-demon dog!" Dante said and jumped, pulling Rebellion out and held it in front of him. "Jack, get away from it."

"No wait!" Jack said stepping in front of Basilisk. "He's not gonna attack us."

Dante glared at the dog. "I've seen this dog in Fortuna; it was made to hunt down demons. So how can you be so sure it won't kill us?"

"Because it let me pet it on the head and even turned into a normal dog so I couldn't get burned." Jack explained as Vergil frowned when his brother mentioned Fortuna while glancing at June, who just looked confused.

"Dante, where is Yamato?" he asked flatly.

Dante grimaced as his attention was taken off the dog for a moment as he looked at his brother. "It's, uh…in good hands."

Vergil glared at him. "_Whose_ hands?"

Dante's grimace deepened. "I think he might be a relative or something as he looks like us, except for the demon hand. His name's Nero."

Vergil showed no outward reaction, but June's eyes widened. "Nero?" she repeated. "That…that sounds…kinda familiar." She muttered to herself in confusion.

"You okay, Junebug?" Dante asked as real concern crossed his face and his hostility for Basilisk was replaced with concern for the woman and he touched her shoulder.

"Don't call her that." Vergil snapped.

June smiled ruefully though. "I've tried three years to get him to stop calling me that, it's losing battle." She murmured before brushing the hand off her shoulder. "And I'm fine, just a little over whelmed by having my son and husband back all in one day, that's all."

Jack felt guilt wash over him as he completely spaced on how his mother might be taking all this. He looked back at Basilisk and gestured toward the stairs. "Basilisk can stay with me in my room." He ventured tentatively.

Dante gave the dog one more glare before making his way over to the couch and put his feet up on the coffee table. "Well I'm not leaving until I can be sure that thing's not gonna kill you in your sleep, so I'll be staying here too."

Vergil glared at his brother and June shook her head before pulling him toward the stairs. "Come one, I can only imagine how many years you went without getting cleaned up."

"And that's not all I went years without." The white-haired man retorted.

Both Jack and Dante grimaced as June blushed. "I so don't need that image, maybe I should sleep down here tonight too." Jack said wisely.

"Right, you can take the floor." Dante agreed and Jack looked at him indignantly.

"Hey, this is my house." He said.

"Yeah, but _I'm_ the guest." Dante shot back smugly.

Jack gritted his teeth as he sat cross-legged on the floor, though his earlier curiosity was piqued. "What's Yamato?"

"Vergil's sword, he…sorta lost it I guess." Dante replied vaguely. "Anyway, it can also cut through any substance, and I left it with a kid that looked about a year or so older than you." He said and seemed to take a closer look at Jack before brushing it off.

"Whoa, and I thought my weapon was cool." Jack thought looking at the guitar case.

"Great minds think alike and all that." Dante said smirking.

"More like strange minds." Jack muttered under his breath.

* * *

><p>Jack walked around the soul plane, Alto wrapped around his arm, and while he tried not to blush, she was pressed rather forcefully against him. Apparently while she seemed to give up on 'screwing him' as she put it, she was still trying to flirt with him.<p>

The attention was rather jarring as in the real world he'd never be noticed and passed off for someone better-looking. He briefly wondered if this 'charm' only worked with non-human beings.

There was still something else on his mind. "Alto, can you like 'come out' so to speak. Of my mind I mean?"

Alto smiled as she laid her head on his shoulder. Her eventual trying to wear him down wasn't going as planned, but she was starting to enjoy just the company than the sex part anyway. Maybe Jack _was_ good for her in another way. "I figured that you wouldn't want that to happen."

Jack shrugged his free shoulder. "You still deserve to have some freedom. It must get boring being in here day in and day out."

Alto felt her not-pulse speed up. '_He really isn't like the others_.' She thought. "Well, yes, it can be done. You just have to let us change from our weapon form into our 'normal' form." She explained.

Jack hummed noncommittal as he stored that away. He saw the lights of a car and heard the tell-tale transformation of his 'mate.' He saw Knock Out look between them pointedly and glared at Alto. She huffed and moved away sulkily. Jack rolled his eyes. "I don't get you, you don't care, yet your jealous of her." He mused aloud.

Knock Out glared at Jack this time. "I don't care." He said automatically. "I just don't like others touching what's mine, and despite the unfortunate scenario where both in, you're mine."

Jack rolled his eyes again. "Yeah, our first encounter ended with a piece of your metal lodged in my chest, real romantic." He said sarcastically.

"I am Decepticon. We have a different view of things than your Autobot compatriots." Knock Out replied tersely. "Then again, your more like a Decepticon than you'd like to admit."

Jack grimaced automatically at the comparison before he remembered that he was 'technically' labelled a 'Con. "Yes, I know that I'm a 'Con. I register as one."

Knock Out nodded as he smirked, Alto skulking around in the background. "That's right, and should be on the look-out for any other supernatural beings to try and muscle in on my mate?" This this it depicted toward Alto.

The woman frowned at him, her face scrunching up. "Yes." She said reluctantly. "Vergil is taken, and Dante is far too in tuned with keeping his humanity to think of having a tryst with a demon. He'd more than likely kill them, so that leaves Jack as the only available one."

"He's not available." Knock Out scowled.

Alto smirked. "Your 'bond' doesn't become valid until you mate in real life, I checked your memories, I know how these things work now."

"Sneaky bitch." Knock Out muttered bitterly before looking pointed at Jack, who backed away at the gaze he was getting.

"No way, I'm not 'mating' with _anything_." He snapped. "I'm _sixteen_."

"You do that with Arcee if you could." Knock Out pointed out sourly.

Jack blushed despite himself and turned away. "The answer is no." he said walking away and Alto followed after him.

Knock Out watched him leave before a smirk crossed his face. _'Soon enough you'll be changing your tune.'_


	18. Chapter 18

It was supposed to have been a non-dangerous scouting mission that he and Arcee went on, but it turned into something out of a horror movie with that creepy spider-bot femme. She made Jack's skin crawl and seeing as he spent a month in the Demon World, there wasn't a lot that could scare him anymore.

And yet that spider-bot did, but maybe that had something to do with the fact she was a total psycho who killed off species for fun. He couldn't even use his demon form to save himself as he didn't want _his_ other half of the species radar to be targeted.

That would put his uncle out of a job.

But there was one good thing to come out of that mess, as he and Arcee were starting to grow closer, with her even calling him 'partner.' He knew this was just a silly crush, but if Alto's attempts toward him and his uncle's infatuation with his mom was any indication, demons don't exactly fall 'out' of love.

That, and he blew up Airachnid's ship. That was pretty cool, no pun intended on his ice powers.

So later when he showed up in the soul plane, he was surprised to be tackled to the ground by a certain red 'Con, one who was checking him over and acting distinctly like he _cared_ despite all his claims otherwise.

"Didn't know you cared." Jack quipped as he couldn't resist the dig.

Knock Out glared at him. "I don't." he said automatically. "I felt you're terror through the bond earlier and I don't _like_ being surprised like that." He growled and raised Jack's face closer to his by gripping his hair and gave him a small shake. "Care to explain what happened?"

Jack snorted. "You're still a 'Con, why would I tell you what happened on an Autobot mission?" he retorted.

"They let you go on missions?" Knock Out growled again. "Don't they know that's the reason we're in this mess in the first place?"

Jack shrugged. "Don't know." He said and glared back. "But you can forget about me telling you anything."

Knock Out smirked. "Is that so?" he questioned and raised one hand to the dark-haired teen's chest, circling one digit against the skin.

Jack shivered as he felt his 'spark' recognize the feel of its 'other half. "Damn you." He moaned and wanted to slap himself. But that still didn't stop him from raising his hands and tackling Knock Out onto his back. "I don't think so." He said with a smirk of his own.

The red 'Con wasn't deterred as he reached up and grabbed Jack by the shoulders before bringing the boy down and smashing their lips together. The teen froze before his body seemed relax slightly, and his body lowered enough that their sparks started to send out tendrils. Jack's eyes widened as he remembered what had happened before and that this 'sparking' also enabled the partner to see what the other went through.

He tried to move away, but the hands on the shoulders weren't going anywhere and the 'Con even flipped them over so the teen was now on his back and his arms were stuck awkwardly behind his back. The teen started to moan into the kiss as he felt the haze of pleasure beginning to cloud his vision.

Then everything stopped as Knock Out fell onto the ground, alone and Jack nowhere in sight and he scowled to himself. "I don't slagging believe this! That organic has left me wanting…again!"

* * *

><p>Jack woke up to see a pair of blue eyes staring at him with some hint of worry and found himself back on the floor where he fell asleep, Basilisk sleeping at his feet. "Wha…?"<p>

"Jack, what the hell was all that noise about?" Dante questioned before he grinned. "Though it sounded like you were having a _really_ good dream if you catch my drift."

Jack unfortunately _did_ catch his drift and he flushed. "It was nothing like that." He lied weakly, feeling even more embarrassed as he apparently made those sounds in his _sleep_.

Dante shrugged and turned on his side with his back facing Jack. "Hey, whatever floats your boat, Jackie. Just try not to make too much sound, I gotta get up soon since Verge's making me take him to Fortuna to get his sword back."

Jack frowned to himself at the thought of sleeping, but laid back down again nonetheless as he thought about the fact his dad wanted to go get his sword back first over spending more time with his mom, though if the off sounds he was hearing then they were already spending a lot of time together as it was.

Jack gagged at the thought tried to push it out of his mind. He _so_ didn't want to think about what his parents were doing right now. He closed his eyes and in what felt like moments he was back in the soul plane, this time with Alto staring at him in amusement. "What's so funny?"

"Red just stalked away saying something about you leaving him wanting again." Alto said smirking.

Jack thought this over and held out his hand to the woman and she pulled him out. "Then let's get going before he comes back."

* * *

><p>"So he left, just like that?" Miko asked astonished as Jack finished telling them about how his dad and uncle left for Fortuna.<p>

"It's no big deal; at least we know he'll be coming back this time." Jack replied. "He might not have any real loyalty towards me as he barely knew me _before_ he left and our time spent in hell together hadn't really endeared him to me, but…he loves my mom if nothing else. He'll come back." He added.

"But, he just _got_ back didn't he?" Raf asked.

Jack shrugged. "Like I said it's no big deal, really."

"You mean it doesn't bother you that your own father probably doesn't like you?" Miko asked surprised.

Jack felt his temper flare and the Decepticon reading appeared before he controlled himself and it disappeared again. "No Miko, it doesn't bother me." He grounded out. "I knew before I met the guy that he probably wouldn't like me right off the bat as he's not very people-oriented."

"'Bee told me that your father was like and organic version of Megatron." Raf said innocently. "And that he almost literally raised the Demon World for power."

"Remind me to 'thank' Bumblebee later." Jack said darkly as he wondered briefly when his father would start to 'warm back up to him.' He'd already had that first year of life, but then again, it probably didn't count.


	19. Chapter 19

Jack looked over the pile of homework in his hands and sighed. _'Why couldn't the Demon World move in slower time so I wouldn't miss as much school and need to get caught up?_' He thought grumpily as he'd need some serious help to finish this all.

The teen walked into the washroom before using its facilities and when he washed his hands, he looked up and jumped in shock. "Ah!" he shouted as he saw in the mirror was Alto in all her green and black glory. He whirled around to see the he wasn't hallucinating and Alto really _was_ out of his head. "How…?"

"Remember what I said about me being able to go outside your head?" she questioned lightly and Jack nodded. "Well I might have…_forgotten_ to mention that I could also come outside when you needed help, and I do mean just when you need help." She said looking over the homework. "Hmm, that's a lot."

Jack rolled his eyes as he dried his hands off and grabbed the pile. "Of course it is; I missed an entire _month_. And how do you expect to leave this room, people aren't exactly used to seeing green people around."

Alto rolled her eyes as she placed a hand over her chest. "Do you honestly think I haven't thought of that?" she questioned and before Jack's eyes, the succubus' appearance started changing. Her hair was still short and nothing physically changed about her, but her skin turned from green to pale, her eyes changed from red to blue, her hair changed from dark green to dark blue with pink highlights and her dress become blue as well.

Jack sucked in a breath as he felt the oddest sense of seeing this form before, but he couldn't place where. "You look…nice."

Alto didn't smirk like he thought, instead she scowled. "I know, enough to strike your fancy I suppose." She grumbled before putting on a smile and grabbed a hold of his arm. "Where to first?"

Jack heard the bell ring and smiled. "Well, school's over, so I guess you can meet the 'Bots first hand."

Alto's grip tightened on his arm and she rested her head on his shoulder. "Sure." She muttered.

Jack furrowed his brow at her strange behavior, but since she wasn't trying to suck his blood, he was willing to ignore it. He noticed them getting stares, or rather, Alto getting the stares and giving him incredulous looks.

"Why do they all look surprised?" she questioned curiously.

"You see, I'm not exactly the most popular guy, or the best-looking in the school." Jack said shrugging.

Alto frowned at this. "Well that's not true; you _are_ good-looking, much better than these entrées that's for sure."

Jack really didn't want to hear about that, even though he knew demons _ate_ humans, he was still disturbed to be reminded of it. "Yes, but I'm only attractive to you _because_ I'm different."

"Different isn't always bad." Alto purred and nuzzled her face in his neck, the teen boy freezing momentarily before he felt she wasn't going to bite him. "And I can't wait to rub it in Knock Out's smug faceplate that I'm actually out here with you. He'll be so jealous." She giggled in the bubbly voice when he'd first met her.

"Are you sure you want to make him hate you again?" Jack questioned wearily as they walked out the school doors and toward Arcee, Alto's face twisting up before it became neutral. The dark-haired boy looked around to make sure no one was watching them. "Arcee, this is Alto, she's the demon inside my head." He said bluntly.

"You have a demon in your head?" Arcee questioned.

"Long story." Jack replied. "She's going to come with us though as I don't know how to send her _back_ into my head." He said giving the demon a pointed look, to which she only smirked at.

"I'll leave when I'm good and ready." She said and playfully touched Jack's face with one hand while her other remained on his arm and traced her finger gently across his neck. "And that'll be after you give me what I want." She purred and leaned up to his neck again, only this time her eyes were glowing red and her fangs become more pronounced.

The femme might not have known what the demon was about to do, but Jack looked distinctly uncomfortable with it and that was all it took for her to rev her engine and Alto looked at her in annoyance while Jack sighed in relief.

"Uh, I keep a spare helmet, here." He said nervously as he handed her the other helmet and she stared at it distastefully. "Look, I'm sure you're not used to the Human World and its laws, but please bear with me."

The demon smirked as though she just heard something particularly interesting and a strange gleam appeared in her eyes. "Only if you _bear with_ me as well." She purred and Jack flushed red before putting his helmet on to hide it.

* * *

><p>"Wow, you're a real demon?" Miko asked excitedly as she looked at Alto in something akin to awe, seeming to be amazed to show any ounce of fear. Raf though <em>was<em> aware the danger Alto represented and kept a healthy distance from her while she hung on Jack's arm.

"Yes, I am." Alto said preening under the attention, even if it _was_ from a human before looking up at the 'Autobots,' or 'Autoscraps' as Knock Out called them when they were in a particularly good mood and actually seemed to get along alright. "I was able to come out of Jack's head because he needed my help, that's what a good weapon does after all, they obey their wielder."

Feeling though that this was a subject that needed to be explained, Jack spoke up quickly. "And before you say anything, she _chose_ to become my weapon. She was trying to kill me when we met, and when I shot her she told me to take her soul before she shattered."

"It's true, and I'm willing to spend forever inside his head just to be with him, because, well," Alto grinned slightly, "he's…_different_. Because his niceness isn't an act, it's real."

Miko laughed at that. "And that's considered a plus with demons? What's the act for then?"

Alto's grin turned into a chilling smile and Jack knew what was coming next. "The act is to lure out food, we eat anything we can get our hands on in the Demon World, and when we're in the Human World we can't help but try out some of the wildlife."

Jack knew Alto wasn't talking about the animals, but humans, only no one but him seemed to fully understand what she meant. "Humans, demons eat humans; to them they're nothing more than food."

"'We.'" Alto corrected him as everyone stared at her in shock. "And don't look so surprised, we may be more like your version of the Decepticons, but we have an even lower opinion of humans than they do." She explained nonchalantly, like she was merely talking about the weather rather than eating people.

"Your worse, at least the 'Cons don't _eat_ people." Arcee said shaking her head in disgust.

"Hey, this is our way of life, survival of the fittest." Alto said scathingly. "You try living in a desolate wasteland where the only option is to kill. You show any weakness and you end up _dead_." She hissed and her eyes seemed to crackle with black electricity.

"My dad told me the same thing, and he's actually _lived_ there for the past 15 years." Jack added. "I'm pretty sure he would have killed me if the novelty of me being the youngest demon alive didn't stop him from doing it."

"See, he's different," Alto said in a much more pleasant tone, "demons rarely have children of their own, and consider how low their opinion of those weak, needy, things, it's no real wonder why that is. The only reason there's still a lot of demons around down there is because…" she trailed off and looked at Jack in shame. "It's because most demons start out as humans in the first place."


	20. Chapter 20

"Alto? You in here?" Jack called into the dark storage unit, as Alto had pretty much disappeared after dropping that bombshell on them back there. She had ignored Miko's awed calling out _how_ you turned into a demon, and only Miko would think _that_ was cool.

"Yes, Jack, I'm here." She called back quietly as she sat on what appeared to be a box.

Jack walked over to her and sat down next to her. "Hey, why are you in here?"

"Didn't you hear me out there? I was a _human_, and I admitted it." Alto said with self-loathing. "I've been around long enough to know you should never do that in the Demon World."

"But we're not in the Demon World anymore." Jack pointed out.

"Force of habit." Alto said shrugging, but didn't mention how she told Knock Out because she honestly thought it didn't matter.

"Speaking of habits, when you're out here, you are never going to try and kill my friends, got it?" Jack questioned as he knew that Alto could still drink their blood or take their souls now that she had her own body and didn't want that to happen to them.

Alto rolled her eyes like it was some great burden. "Alright, alright, but," she scooted over to Jack and nuzzled his neck as she stared at him hungrily, "_you_ still count though."

Jack froze for a moment as he thought that Alto was going to bite him, but she pulled back and he furrowed his brow at the disguise she was wearing. "I know the form you have from somewhere."

"Really Jack, you still haven't figured it out yet?" Alto questioned as she tugged at her pink and blue hair. "_Really?_" she added, her current blue eyes staring into his meaningfully.

Jack looked her over again and it finally seemed to dawn on him about who she looked like. "Why do you look like a human Arcee?"

"Because," Alto began as she brushed her hair away from her face, "she's what you want, and you're what I want."

"And you thought just taking on her colors was gonna work?" Jack asked in disbelief.

"Well I did get you to say how pretty I looked." Alto retorted petulantly.

"I always thought you were the most beautiful woman I ever met, "Jack said and Alto preened, "but I like Arcee, and you tried to _kill_ me might I add."

"Details." Alto said waving her hand as if to brush the issue aside and Jack rolled his eyes.

"Yes, it's not like the minor detail of _that_ is going to make me forget what you tried, and _have been_ trying to do." He said sarcastically. He stood up from the 'box' and held out his hand. "What do you say we head back?"

Alto coyly grabbed his hand and hoisted herself off the 'box,' but didn't let go of his hand. "Sure, let's go." She said and they walked hand in hand out of the storage room and into the main room, but froze at the sight of Optimus lying on a berth and looking worse for wear.

"What's going on?" Jack asked frowning.

"You, up there now." Ratchet said gruffly as he pointed to the platform where Raf and Miko were.

Jack was still wondering what was going on, but pulled Alto up to the platform and as Ratchet was checking Optimus' optics did the medic speak.

"Cybonic Plague, it's only contagious if contact is made with the infected energon." He explained and the other 'Bots looked worried.

"What was a plague doing in an Autobot spaceship?" Miko questioned.

"It's passengers were infected, it wiped out millions on Cybertron in the Great War." Arcee replied.

"Cybonic Plague was engineered in the Decepticon's Biological warfare program," Ratchet added and his tone turned ominously, "by Megatron himself."

"You…have a cure don't you?" Raf asked after the pause.

Optimus started rasping. "No…cure…"

"Optimus please, save your strength." Ratchet said.

"Why would Megatron create a disease with a cure?" Jack questioned suddenly and saw Ratchet glanced at him. "I mean, what if he caught it, by accident?"

"It's not like we can ask Megatron, Jack, he's pushing up lugnuts." Bulkhead replied.

"But, we might be able to access the Decepticon database." Ratchet said and looked over at the monitor. "For the moment we still have a fix on the warship's location."

Jack raised a brow. _'Wow, I missed a lot when I went searching for Alto after she ran off.'_

"Bumblebee, come with me." Arcee said and Jack could _guess_ what they were gonna do.

And so did Ratchet as he glanced back at the two of them leaving. "Arcee…quickly."

* * *

><p><em>"I'm in the network."<em> Arcee's voice said coming through the speakers a few minutes later and Ratchet was at the monitor.

"Ratchet…" Optimus began. "Were…you…"

"Infected?" Ratchet finished. "No."

_"If it's here, I don't see it."_ Arcee said over the speaker.

"Are you certain, Arcee?" The medic questioned.

_"I searched every file, nothing."_ Arcee replied.

"Well search again!" Ratchet shouted. "Clearly you missed something!"

_"I scanned the entire database!"_ Arcee shot back.

"Did you use the redundant quantum algorithm?" Ratchet questioned.

_"Don't tell me how to search, you think you're the only who cares about Optimus?"_ Arcee retorted and the line went silent.

"Arcee, what's going on?" Ratchet questioned.

There wasn't a reply for a moment and when she did, Arcee's tone sounded disbelieving. _"It's Megatron, he's…alive."_

"What?" Jack questioned to himself as he heard Miko and Raf both gasp, though Alto looked highly confused but what they were talking about.

'Who?' she mouthed.

"That's not possible." Ratchet said in a matter-of-factly tone.

_"Well I'm starring right at him."_ Arcee shot back. _"Good news is, Megatron isn't exactly staring back."_

"Megatron…?" Optimus rasped out.

_"He's critical, hooked up to life support. Time to finish this once and for all."_ Arcee said darkly.

"Wait!" Ratchet exclaimed suddenly.

_"One good reason, _fast."

"Megatron may be Optimus' only hope for survival." Ratchet replied.

"_What are you talking about?"_

"Does he display brainwave activity?" The medic questioned.

_"Spiking hard, his sick mind is still at work."_

_"Perfect_. If a cure exists, Megatron may be the only one who knows it. You must enter his brain, and find it." Ratchet said gravely.

_"Enter Megatron's brain, Ratchet are you out of your fraggin' mind?" _Arcee asked incredulously.

"The Decepticon laboratory should contain all the equipment you need for a particle psychic patch." Ratchet explained.

_"No way, have you ever even performed the procedure?" _Arcee questioned.

"No." The medic admitted. "But I have thoroughly studied the theoretical literature, invented by Decepticons outlawed by the Autobots." It sounded like it was painful for him to say that.

_"Whoa, can't we just haul Megatron through the ground bridge; buy us some time to figure this out?" _Arcee questioned.

"Time is one thing Optimus does not have!" Ratchet shouted. "One of you must try this! I will _not_ allow Optimus to pass knowing that Megaton will outlive him."

_"…Ratchet, I would lay down my life for Optimus, anytime, anywhere, but a mind-body split…"_ Arcee trailed off and 'Bee started beeping in his own opinion.

_"I'll do it."_ He warbled.

_"You will?"_ Arcee questioned.

"You…sure Bumblebee?" Raf questioned uncertainly.

Bulkhead looked up at them. "'Bee's the best there is."

Jack felt his eyes suddenly widen and it was like his consciousness was elsewhere.

_The walls around him weren't like anything he'd seen before and it wasn't like he was in control of his body. He couldn't move anything and when the room finally started to spin, he came face to face with some mech with wings he'd never seen before as he went through a sliding metal door._

_"Doctor in the house." He heard Red's voice coming from himself and figured this must have been one of those 'shared' visions Ratchet explained that came with the bond. _

_"Aw, Knock Out; and how is the patient doing today?" The flyer questioned._

_"Same old." Red answered nonchalantly._

_"An inglorious fate, that he should remain in this vegetative state." The flyer replied._

_"On the contrary, Megatron's body might be scrap metal, but his mind is still percolating." Knock Out replied and Jack felt him tap his temple to emphasize his point._

_The flyer looked at him darkly. "Keep that to yourself," he glanced around the room, "that blasted Soundwave sees and hears everything."_

_"The eyes and ears of the Decepticons." Red added._

_"As their master remains in limbo, so does their cause, the Decepticons deserve a strong, alert leader." The flyer replied._

_"One who would require a loyal, second-in-command." Knock Out added. _

_The flyer chuckled. "A candidate would need to earn that post to said 'eyes and ears.'"_

_"A case for showing mercy, Lord Starscream?" Red questioned._

_"You scratch my back, I scratch yours." The flyer replied. "An if you're lucky, you can even go retrieve your organic."_

_Red didn't reply to that, and Jack didn't like this either. _

"…we've stirred Megatron from his oblivion, he's becoming self-aware." He heard Ratchet say and Jack's eyes snapped open to the monitor which showed a desolate wasteland sort of environment and assumed that must be Megatron's mind.

_'How long was I out for?'_ Jack asked himself and saw Alto giving him a look of concern.

"Jack, what's wrong, you looked kinda out of it." She said softly.

Jack answered the whole thing and didn't stop to think that Miko and Raf _didn't_ know about the bond. "'Bee really has to hurry now, I just saw a conversation between Starscream and Red and he's gonna pull the plug on Megatron!"

Ratchet looked up sharply. "_What?_"

Bulkhead looked confused. "Who?"

Miko and Raf looked at him in disbelief. "How do you know this?" The girl asked. "You psychic or something?"

"Or something." Jack answered shortly.

Suddenly the faint sounds of a door sliding open reached through the speaker's and Starscream's voice rang out as well.

_"Knock Out, would you be so kind as to provide your expert medical opinion to Soundwave? For the historical record." _

_"Simply put, unaided, Megatron could remain in this deathless slumber forever." _Red explained.

_"See what I said?"_ Jack hissed through his teeth.

"_Our master would not have been wanted to be seen this way; to stand idly by as he remains captive in his own body is not just."_ Starscream said.

There was a brief pause and soon Red's voice spoke again. _"Brainwave activity, not evidence of consciousness, but merely of an endless dream from which Megatron may never wake."_

_"Soundwave, we must face reality, Megatron is lost to us." _Starscream said.

_"The only honorable option would be to show him mercy."_ Red added.

"_A simple throw of the switch."_

_"Quick, painless, compassionate."_

_"Ratchet, are you hearing this?"_ Arcee asked quietly.

"If Megatron perishes, Bumblebee will be separated from his body, forever." Ratchet said gravely.

Jack's eyes widened. "We'll lose Bumblebee _and_ Optimus?" he questioned. _'Why couldn't I have woken up sooner?'_

Back on the monitor it still showed Megatron and Bumblebee talking.

"_The only way you could have entered my mind is with a particle psychic patch, but the question remains, what happened to me?" _Megatron snarled and he narrowed his optics. _"The space bridge explosion, if you're in my head, then I am not one with the Allspark. So tell me scout, do I still function?"_

_"_Bumblebee, we are out of time." Ratchet reminded him.

_"It's the Cybonic Plague, we need the cure for it."_ 'Bee beeped.

_"The Cybonic Plague, someone besides myself is unwell?"_ Megatron questioned and Bumblebee nodded stiffly. _"Optimus!"_ he exclaimed and started chuckling darkly. "_Such irony! That after ages of endless battle, the mighty Optimus Prime is felled by a simple virus from the distant past. And what makes you think I would save the life of my oldest enemy?"_

_"Because you would be denied the thing you want the most!_" 'Bee beeped urgently.

_"Oh, and just what is the thing I want the most, scout?"_ Megatron questioned.

"_To slay Optimus by you own hand."_Bumblebee beeped steadily.

_"Did you not see? I do slay Optimus by my own hand whenever I desire."_ Megatron said and 'Bee retorted.

Raf translated, but since Jack already knew what the mech had said, he assumed it was Miko's and Alto's sake. "'Bee told Megatron that if he lets the plague virus destroy the real Optimus, Megatron will never get the chance to do it himself."

"Smart." Jack said and Alto nodded.

"Twisted." Miko added.

Inside his mind, Megaton looked considering. _"After our deep history, to not watch the spark fade on my very own…"_ he paused and held out his hand and a glowing cube appeared. "_Well played, scout, here is the formula for the cure you seek Not that I expect you to know how to read it."_ He added and as Bumblebee went to grab it, it disappeared. _"Ah ah, not yet."_

_"What, why?"_ 'Bee questioned.

_"And how am I to accomplish termination Optimus as you propose, while I'm trapped here in a perpetual daydream? Once you release me from this prison, you will have the cure. You must guarantee my recovery, or Optimus fades to gun metal gray, the real Optimus."_ Megatron said as Ratchet rewound the footage until the glowing cube was back.

"Arcee, we have cure; disconnect Bumblebee now!" he shouted.

It was a tense few minutes before 'Bee and Arcee returned and another until Ratchet could administer the cure. They all cheered though as they watched the Prime move.

"Please, save your hero's welcome for my physician _and_ my scout." He said and the clapping resumed as Bumblebee looked at them all sheepishly.

Jack suddenly stopped and his sight changed again.

_Jack looked around the strange plain again, but as he was looking at Megatron's prone body, he knew that he was sharing Red's sight again and 'felt' himself looking up at the sliding doors as Starscream came through._

_"And how is the patient doing today?" Starscream questioned sourly._

_"Funny you should ask, not sure what the Autobot's did in there, but Megatron's registering zero brainwave activity." Red replied._

_"Meaning?" Starscream asked for clarification. _

_"Physical he's stable, but now there's…no one home." _

Jack tried not to gasp as he shakily stopped clapping and saw 'Bee freeze as he was bowing and some deep sense of dread formed in his chest.

Maybe, maybe this was just a coincidence. Yeah, that had to be it.


	21. Chapter 21

"So, what are-" Jack stopped talking as Alto suddenly stiffened and looked at him imploringly.

"_Please_, I've been holding it back longer than I've ever had to." She said as her eyes started to glow red softly. "_I'm starving."_

Miko didn't seem to think this was a problem as she didn't realize _what_ Alto ate. "Great, we can all get a bite."

Alto tilted her head. "Is that an offer?"

Before Miko could ask, 'An offer for _what?_' Jack spoke up quickly. "Uh, you had better get home now; I know my mom's going to be so mad for me staying out late." He said and Miko pouted before leaving with Bulkhead and Raf left with 'Bee, who Jack was still a little leery of at the moment as he didn't want to think that something _was_ wrong with him after that last 'vision' he had.

Jack held up a hand to stop Arcee. "Uh, could you give us a minute?" he looked over at Alto. "This isn't going to take long is it?" he asked with a hint of nervousness in his voice.

"Aw, you think it's only going to take a minute." Alto cooed. "Didn't you hear me when I said I was _starving_? As in I haven't had any for more than a _month_?"

"You mean this is going to be a repeat occurrence?" Jack asked, looking even more nervous and he held the side of his neck for some reason.

Alto rolled her eyes. "Of course it is, or would you like to rectify the 'no killing' rule you gave me?"

"Okay, what are you talking about?" Arcee cut in sharply as she didn't like how hungrily Alto was staring at Jack. And that sentence was also a sharp reminder that Alto and Jack both _have_ killed before.

"Simply put, I'm gonna drink Jack's blood." Alto said bluntly and shrugged off Arcee's look of disgust. "Hey, if I can't get at his soul, then I'm going for his _neck_." She said now that Jack thought this really gave new meaning to the term 'necking.'

"Like frag you are!" Arcee shot back. "Go find some animal to eat; I'm not letting you _kill_ him."

Alto scoffed and pointed to the spot on Jack's chest where Knock Out's shard had lodged itself. "Do you have any clue how Jack even survived his first encounter with Knock Out _to_ form a bond with him? He has a _regenerative_ ability. It means he's going to be around for a long time, and that he can survive losing a few pints of blood!"

"It's true," Jack admitted, "I didn't _know_ at the time that was why I survived, but it was and I _am_ going to let Alto eat." He grimaced. "It's better than letting her loose onto the unsuspecting world hungry."

Alto smiled a sickeningly sweet smile. "I knew you'd agree with me." She said before giggling bubbly and dragging Jack off out of the control room.

"Arcee…" Prime said as the femme was about to follow after them.

The blue femme looked guiltily back at him and the medic, so focused on the rage she felt for Alto that she forgot they weren't alone. "I can't help it, she's tried to _kill_ him once before, and loyal or not, what's to stop her from _actually_ doing it. Look at _Starscream_ for example."

"There is one difference though; Alto seems to genuinely care for Jack." Prime said wisely, despite his voice still sounding a bit raspy.

Arcee grimaced and before long, Alto and Jack came back, the woman looking all blissed out and holding the boy by the shoulder as he on the other hand looked pale and sickly. "I think it's time for you to leave."

Alto grinned surprisingly as her skin started to take on a more greenish tint and her hair faded to green and her eyes began to go from blue back to red and they caught a glimpse of her true form since meeting her. "I guess it is, but it's almost time for Jack to go to sleep. And then it's back to helping Jack avoid Knock Out in his dreams before he inevitably catches him. Oh, and you should probably always remember that you can't _see_ his dreams either."

Arcee's optics widened and Jack sent Alto a glare. "_Leave!_" he hissed weakly and the woman patted him on the hair before fading away.

It became apparent that Alto was holding him to keep him from falling as Jack stumbled on his feet before balancing himself.

"Jack, what did she mean by that?" Arcee asked with a sinking feeling in her spark and she could very well _guess_ what it meant. She knew what a spark bond entailed after all. "Have you and…Knock Out…?"

Jack started blushing, the stark contrast even more noticeable with his currently pale face. Give him white hair and he could look _exactly_ like his father at this moment. "It doesn't count if it doesn't happen in real life, right?"

_"Technically_," The medic said gruffly and Arcee shot him a glare, "but it still happened."

"Oh," Jack said absently, "so how long before Red comes here for the 'real' thing then?"

Jack didn't get an answer, and he was fine with that. It probably wasn't good, and neither would mentioning how Red probably _was_ going to come for him if what Starscream said was any inclination that he _could_.

* * *

><p>Dante glanced over at his brother, because he was still reeling from the fact that they weren't trying to kill each other at this moment. Though he suspected that it had something to do with June exasperatingly telling them not to try kill each other when they left for Fortuna.<p>

And because Dante liked June, he went along with it, though Vergil had looked annoyed when she let him hug her. Score a point for him.

Then there was that nagging feeling at the back of his mind and he thoughtlessly blurted out what he was thinking. "How do you even _know_ where Fortuna if you made me bring you, have you actually been here before?"

Vergil glanced over at him, and Dante huffed to himself that he wasn't even worth a full stare. "Yes, I _have_ been here, you idiot."

Dante scowled at him and thought that clearly the Demon World hadn't improved his personality much. Or that he didn't answer his other question. "Hey, remember that I'm the one who took care of _your_ family that you threw away, so who's _really_ the idiot?" he snapped and smirked at what he'd been wanting to rub in his brother's face for years now.

Not that he _regretted_ helping June with Jack after taking them in. It'd had been one of the better parts of his life.

Vergil glared at him coldly and looked sorely tempted to break his promise to June. "I didn't _throw them away._ I did what I had to _for_ them." He hissed. "I love June," he said seriously, and Dante noted that the 'and Jack' never came; a mistake _he'd_ never made, "and apparently," his brother's expression turned darker, "so do you."

Normally, Dante wouldn't _mind_ confirming that he did in fact like June, but since this was _Vergil _he was talking to and since he already hated his guts, he thought it wouldn't take much for him to try and kill him after their promise had been annulled. "No," he said slowly and carefully, tact being something he'd grown to use in situations that needed it; like when June made him shield his language around a much younger Jackie, "I don't." he added. "And she didn't like me much either."

"That's not what _she_ told me and June has no reason to lie to me." Vergil said narrowing his eyes and Dante found it a small consolation that he didn't freeze in his tracks. "She told me how she's been faithful to me all these years, and I can tell by her scent that it's true…"

"That it is." Dante added nervously and knew where he was going with this.

"…_despite_ all your previous attempts to persuade her otherwise, _knowing_ that I wasn't dead." His brother finished and his glare was downright murderous. "And since we don't fall _out_ of love, it stands to reason that you still _are_ in love with her."

"But hey, nothing ever happened, doesn't that count for anything?" Dante asked chuckling weakly.

"It does." Vergil replied and for a moment Dante thought he was in the clear. "For _her_, not _you_." He said darkly. "And I suggest you watch your back from now on after this is over and I have retrieve Yamato."

"But you'll never go through with it because you'll be spending too much time catching up with your wife, right?" Dante was surprised to find that the words came out with the least amount of bitterness he could muster when talking about Vergil doing _anything_ with June.

Still, Dante could still catch up with Jack if his father wasn't inclined to spend time with the boy and he could cement himself once again as 'cool uncle Dante.'

Though to a four year old who grew up with only one male acting as a paternal substitute, the word 'uncle' had been mistakenly switched on the odd occasion to 'dad.'

Not that he _minded_ it of course.


	22. Chapter 22

"Basketball, by way of Cybertron, let the games begin!" Miko said blowing the whistle around her neck while Jack and Raf were watching from a groove in the wall.

Bumblebee spun the 'ball' on his digit before having it stolen and Bulkhead shot it up into the air toward the 'net' by Miko and it went through.

"Go Bulk'!" she cheered as Bulkhead caught the 'ball'.

"Best two out of three." Bulkhead said tossing the 'ball' to 'Bee and the yellow mech ran around Bulkhead.

"'Bee, you're in the clear!" Raf shouted before Bumblebee stopped in front of the net. "Dunk it 'Bee!"

Jack furrowed his brow as 'Bee seemed to be spacing out and was reminded of when he came back from Megatron's mind all spacey too.

Bulkhead walked over to the mech. "Bumblebee, quit hogging the ball." He said before Bumblebee whirled around and threw the 'ball' at Bulkhead, the green mech ducking to avoid getting smash in the helm like the wall.

Miko whistled the device she was carrying and slid down the ladder. "Eh! Flagrant foul!"

"Dodge ball by way of Cybertron." Jack snarked.

"'Bee, hoop's over there." Bulkhead said pointing in the opposite direction and Bumblebee replied sharply.

"I can_ see_ that."

"'Bee, is something wrong?" Raf asked worriedly.

"Uh, yeah, everything's fine, three out of five though?" Bumblebee questioned holding up three fingers.

Raf smiled slightly. "Yeah, three out of five."

Jack himself kept his expression neutral as if there _was_ something wrong, he didn't think he was qualified to handle it, best to leave that to someone who could.

* * *

><p><em>"…the Decepticons need a leader, not a mantle piece," Starscream's voice rang in his ears as he saw him standing in front of Megatron's prone, <span>empty<span> body, a strange purple shard in his hand that looked familiar somehow, "and I shall convince them that I am the true heir to your throne, with a plan so epic-" he continued as he pointed skyward and Jack couldn't help but chuckle to himself before hearing Knock Out actually speak as he had wondered into the room and leaned on the wall, the movement of his body suggesting he'd crossed his arms._

_"Not even the Mighty Megatron could've conceived it?" he questioned._

_Jack though wondered that if he could see what Red saw, then how long would it be until Red could see what he saw? And he was sure the 'Con wouldn't be so inclined to keep his mouth shut about how to get into the Autobot base if he could. _

_Jack saw Starscream turn around and what looked to be embarrassment was on his faceplate. "That was the idea, Knock Out, how long have you been there?"_

_"Long enough." Red replied. "And it's Commander Knock Out to you once and future Lord Starscream."_

_Jack could only wonder what the _hell_ kind of plan he was gonna go through with. _

Jack heard his cell phone going off quietly and he snapped out of his trance before leaning over and answering it, making sure to keep his voice down. "Raf, class is starting." And how embarrassing was it that he spaced out _before_ class anyway?

"Bumblebee never picked me up for school; and his off again, any idea where he is?" Raf asked.

Jack felt the dread he'd been feeling for a while rear its head again, but he bit it back from entering his voice. "No, I don't, but you could try the base."

"Mr. Darby, no cell phones in class." The teacher called sternly.

"Sorry Raf, I gotta go." Jack said quickly before hanging it up and stuffed it into his pocket and looked up sheepishly at the teacher, hoping he didn't space out for the rest of the school day.

* * *

><p>"This is nice, isn't it?" Alto said hanging on Jack's arm as they exited the school in her 'Arcee human form' as she dubbed it. "And no Arcee, maybe we can race home and you can let me meet your mom properly."<p>

Jack shook his head. "Yeah, I don't think so." He said. "Besides, my mom works late and I still need you to help me with the homework I need to catch up on."

"Hi Jack." A new voice said and Jack glanced up at the redhead he'd previously had a crush on. "Uh, you're looking well." Sierra said giving a non-too-subtle glance to Alto.

Alto noticed this and grinned darkly at the girl and pointedly wrapped herself more tightly around Jack's arm. "Yes, he is now that he's got me."

Jack grimaced at her sultry tone and had his crush not moved to Arcee, he _would_ have found this woman on his arm incredibly attractive, but he didn't. Not anymore anyway. "We're just friends, though _someone_ can't seem to take the hint." He said giving Alto a blatant stare.

"Obviously he doesn't mean me though." Alto retorted giving a glare of her at Sierra.

The redhead reeled back in bewilderment at the venom in the gaze before glancing back at Jack. "So, are you free later? Not that, we, uh… It's just that we haven't really done anything since the ride you took me on. On your motorbike that is!" she stuttered.

Jack chalked up the normally calm cheerleader's disposition to the fact Alto was glaring daggers at her and not because she was embarrassed. "Well, see, I kinda have a lot of homework…"

"Oh, I see." Sierra said before brightening. "Well maybe I could help-"

"He's got all the help he needs with _me_." Alto hissed and proceeded to start dragging Jack with her away from the girl.

"What was that about?" Jack asked annoyed. "She was just being nice."

Alto gave him a disbelieving look. "I can't believe how _dense_ you really are." She muttered and think to get him to understand what someone wanted from him was to do what she and Red did by practically jumping him.

"Hey you guys!" Miko's voice rang out and Jack quickly glanced at Alto, but the woman obviously saw the girl as no type of threat as an immediate glare wasn't sent the girl's way.

"Hey, Miko." Jack said stiffly before hearing his phone start ringing and he found that it was Raf. "Hey Raf, where we're you?"

"_Um, the Arctic."_ Raf replied sheepishly.

Jack blinked in disbelief and stared at the phone momentarily before speaking into it. "Are you serious?"

"_It's kind of a long story, but the short version is that Bumblebee got possessed by Megatron, Megatron's back now and we need you to bridge us back to the base."_ Raf explained.

Jack blinked again, this time in shock as he realized what this meant. "I was…right?" he asked himself before raising his voice. "Uh, sure, hold on."

_"Not like we're going anywhere."_

Jack rolled his eyes before putting his phone away and relayed what Raf told him to Miko and Alto. "So now we gotta get to the base."

"No problem, let's start running then." Alto said and suddenly picked Miko up bridal style.

"Whoa! Put me down!" Miko said.

"You wanna get to the base with us? Then shut up and enjoy the ride." Alto said in annoyance and Jack realized that even though Alto found Miko no threat, she still wasn't going to let the girl come in contact with him.

"Trust me, it's exhilarating." Jack assured her before he and Alto started up their sprinting and soon became blurs.

"Whoa!" Miko exclaimed, but instead of sounding scared, she sounded excited.

"See?" Jack yelled over the wind as they both kept up their steady, blur inducing speed.

* * *

><p>Jack watched the scene between 'Bee and Raf and felt like an intruder on their touching moment, but it seemed to end too soon as Raf looked over at him.<p>

"Before you hung up, you said you were right, what were you talking about?" he asked.

Jack rubbed the back of his head. "Well, you know my 'psychic ability'." He said and only the 'Bot's and Alto actually knew he was talking about his bond. "Yeah, I, uh, saw Re-_Knock Out_ telling Starscream that Megatron's mind was gone."

A pin could've been heard dropping.

"You mean you _knew_ and didn't say anything?" Arcee questioned him sharply.

"I _didn't_ know though and thought it didn't mean anything." Jack shot back and looked at 'Bee. "I'm sorry 'Bee, if I had known what my…'vision' actually meant then, I don't know, maybe this couldn't been changed."

"But you didn't know what you saw, and if you said anything who knows _what_ Megatron might have done then." Bumblebee shuddered just thinking about what he might have been forced to do.

"Bumblebee is right, though from now on, it would be best if you would inform us of what your 'visions' show you." Prime said gravely. "I would never ask anyone to break the 'secrecy' of such a thing," Jack knew he meant that wouldn't ask this if it wasn't necessary, "but would the same be done if _he_ could see it too?"

Miko and Raf had no clue who Optimus meant, but Jack was fully aware and he knew the answer; no, if given the chance to see the Autobot's plans then Knock Out _wouldn't_ pass up the chance to use it against them.

"I…understand." Jack said slowly. "And while we're being honest, I also had another one earlier, I saw Starscream holding a purple glowing shard in his servo."

The 'Bots exchanged a quick glance with each other; their faceplate's indicating that they knew what this shard was, and it wasn't a good thing.


	23. Chapter 23

23.

"I can't believe I never thought of this." Jack said laying on the bed in Alto's 'home' in the mindscape. "A great place to rest and a great place to hide from Red."

Alto, who was brushing her hair in front of the vanity mirror, smirked at him through the reflection. "Neither can I, but the fact you get to spend more time with _me_ is something I'll forgive." She said graciously, like she really _was_ forgiving him for not thinking of it.

"Think Red's in recharge yet?" Jack questioned turning on his side so he was facing the wall. "I go to bed sometime around 10 'cause my mom's strict about that kind of stuff, but I have no idea when Red goes to sleep."

"Before you never asked about that kind of thing," Alto pointed out as she started to apply eye liner, "so it seems you're starting to care about him."

"Not true." Jack shot back over his shoulder, his face twisting up into a scowl.

Alto's smirk never faltered, but her eyes sharpened and she _did_ look just a bit angrier about this herself. "If it makes you feel any better, he's caring about you too."

Jack snorted before laying his head back down on the pillow. Even after all this time, through the fighting and make up sparking, he still found it hard to believe Red cared about _him_. Whether he was an organic or not wasn't the problem. It was that he was an Autobot ally, but he was also technically a _Decepticon_ and he wouldn't go with him.

Jack still liked Arcee too much to ever betray the Autobots; no matter how many threats Red made that wasn't going to change.

The teen felt the bed dip under another weight on the bed, but he assumed it was just Alto coming for some snuggling. He sighed and closed his eyes as he felt a hand slid along his waist. He thought she wasn't doing anything too provocative so he let it slide. Jack felt the hand start to slid lower and he wrinkled his nose when the hand griped his jeans. "Knock it off, Alto."

The hand stilled and just as Jack thought she was going to move her hand away, he felt the grip tighten and the voice that replied was _not_ Alto's. "What did you just call me?"

It was _Red's_.

Jack froze, hyperaware now of the form behind him tense and the servo on his jeans starting to dig into his skin. "How did you know I was here and where'd Alto go?"

"Don't care where _she_ went," Red hissed, "and you should really know better than to think I can't find you in here."

"What, this place got a tracking signal or something?" Jack retorted as he turned to look at Knock Out.

The mech smirked. "It seems you don't have _all_ the knowledge I possess about bonds after all."

Jack felt his eye tick in annoyance. "Well-" his snappy comeback was drowned out by a pair of metal lip components swooping down to silence him. He felt himself get turned onto his back and felt the mech place himself on top of him, the tendrils of energy connecting their sparks and through the haze that came over him, Jack had enough sense to feed Knock Out something that could be considered 'good news' than what he _actually_ knew.

When the mech pulled away, there was a strange look on his faceplate. "You're sire has returned? He looks shockingly like you."

"Yeah, he does. Kind of mean, but I haven't really known him that long anyway." Jack shrugged. "My uncle's cool though, and so _different_ than my dad."

"And now he's gone again, hmm? I wonder what that must be like for you." Red mused.

"Why, don't you have parents, er, Creators?" Jack questioned.

"Sort of, as all new Cybertronians are created by the Allspark." Knock Out replied.

Jack nodded as he made a noncommittal sound, his eyes staring up at Red's faceplate. "You know, you really _are_ a knock out." He said absently.

The red mech smirked, and although he _knew_ Jack was still in an afterglow of sorts that he researched about humans, because there was no way he was not going to try and use all these new tidbits to his advantage and payback for all the times this organic left _him_ wanting, he still knew that the organic was speaking what he thought of him.

There was also no doubt that what _else_ he thought of him was less than savory.

But speaking of wanting… "You know, I've learned something…_interesting_ about how human sexual acts are performed. Maybe I could try it out on you, just to get you ready for the actual thing in the real world."

The hazy look in Jack's eyes lifted abruptly and panic settled in. And no small amount of _fear_ too. "Uh, that's not really necessary." He stammered and further pushed Red off him, but the mech grabbed his wrist with his free servo and pulled himself back on top, making sure to avoid letting their sparks touch again.

There would be time for that later after all.

This was far more interesting, he was making the organic finally _squirm_ after everything else. Making him genuinely uneasy about something; and it was just _fascinating._ "Why so antsy all of a sudden?" he grinned slyly. "Don't tell me you haven't…" he trailed off and his grin fell away as he watched the organic avert looking at him directly. "You haven't?"

"Of course I haven't!" Jack retorted. "Now get off me, you got what you wanted already." He said and they both knew it was the _information_ that Red had wanted, not the sparking itself, though it was quite nice too.

Knock Out though, was in a rather vindictive mood as he was still on the line of thought about making his organic squirm. "I don't think so, in fact; I'm in a rather…_frisky_ mood." He said as he slid the servo on Jack's jeans under his shirt and across his stomach. Jack shivered at the cold feeling, and his eyes turned red before Knock Out felt the cool white metal under his servo and saw that Jack was in his demon form now.

Well, this was a set back as he couldn't pierce through the armour. Though he knew _plenty_ about his own species chassis' and since Jack's armour had only manifested because of the _Cybertronian _shard, it stood to reason that the armour was _also_ the same type.

Which meant it was sensitive…which mean he could use that.

Knock Out continued to trail his hand over the organic's stomach, the shirt riding up and the desired effect made the organic start to squirm under the touch. "Still want to stop?"

"_Yes_." Jack hissed out, his eyes softly glowing in warning. "I can still wake up."

Knock Out scowled at the reminder. "Yes, you can. And then you'll still be a squeamish little virgin. Just like if we did this in here; nothing gets damaged at all."

Jack stared at him dubiously, his claw losing grip in his servo before he sighed and lowered it down his arm. "You'd better be right about this."

"Trust me; you'll still be a squeamish little virgin when you wake up." Red snorted.

"Trust? Ha!" Jack retorted. "You're a 'Con, 'trust' isn't something you're likely to know about."

"True," Knock Out replied slyly, "but so are _you_, and didn't you _not_ tell anyone of your so-called allies about yourself?"

Jack glared at the mech and was about to punch him when the servo on his stomach slid down his smooth metallic second skin and under his jeans edge. "Ugh!" he groaned and twitched at the sudden movement. He lifted his claws to grab onto Red's shoulder struts and slipped his fingers into the seams, causing the mech to give a quick jerk as Jack discovered that this thing really _did_ work both ways.

Red pushed his servo further into the teen's pants and _jerked_, making Jack cry out and his vision whited out. Red felt the weight underneath him disappear, but instead of growing angry like before, he grinned in triumph at _finally_ getting something from the teen. He slumped down onto the bed with a smirk on his face plate.

Back in the real world, Jack awoke with a start as he tried to control his breathing about what happened in his 'dream.' That was much farther than he'd ever gone with Knock Out and he was conflicted about how to feel about that. He furrowed his brow as he felt something wet and sticky on the sheets beneath him before his eyes widened.

_'Oh shit, did…did I just…with _Knock Out?' he thought and groaned as he hauled himself out of bed to change his sheets, his face red from embarrassment.

It went even redder when he realized that his uncle had woken him up once because he was _actually_ making the noise, so there was the horror of the fact his mother might have heard.

Jack groaned again, his face reddening right up to the roots of his hairline.

* * *

><p>"Hmm, I finally got one over on that little organic." Knock Out said absently.<p>

"If I ask what you're talking about, am I going to regret it?" Breakdown questioned flatly.

Though he didn't get the _right_ answer, Knock Out took this as a confirmation to keep talking. "After those last two times, I _finally_ got one out of him."

"What are you…ah!" The other mech said in disgust as he realized what the red mech was talking about. "Keep what you do to your _mate_ to yourself. I don't need to be thinking about an _organic_, even if he is one of us now."

"But I must admit, he _does_ pull off pure white armour, it's so…_shiny_ and I can practically see my reflection in it." Knock Out purred. "I can't wait for the real thing."

"Go _get_ him then, if it'll make you stop talking about it." Breakdown said testily as he was _really_ trying not to think about what those two did in their little mindscape.

"Now that Lord Megatron is back, I can't risk it. Though my organic isn't really _human_, that won't matter unless I can give him _proof_ that he's not useless." Knock Out said to himself.

"Like I said; _go get him_." Breakdown repeated. "Make your organic be useful and then show the proof to Lord Megatron. Just _stop talking about him_. Really, it's distracting to hear you going on and on about your mate while here I am doing all the work on _him_." he said nodding down at an unconscious Starscream.

The red mech looked somewhat dismissive. "And you're doing a very good job." He said. "But your suggestion does have merit, though I think it's not necessary to mention that _another_ being, Jack's Sire no less nearly ended earth too. Or maybe it would be beneficial to mention it."

Breakdown paused. "His Sire tried to destroy earth?"

"Apparently all demons are _very much_ like Decepticons." Knock Out replied. "In fact, if I didn't hate that demon bitch Alto I might just like her for her own wonderfully sadistic personality."

"Are you talking about the green-skinned organic?"

"Who else?" Knock Out retorted. "If you ever happen to meet her, watch out for her electrical attacks, they _hurt_."

Though highly doubting he _would_ ever meet this organic Knock Out had a grudge against, the blue mech merely grunted in response. "Sure, whatever you say."


	24. Chapter 24

24.

Jack yawned as he sat down at the table for breakfast, he'd tried to put off sleep as long as possible since he definitely didn't want Red to know about the whole 'other dimension' thing. It was bad enough he'd been forced to use his demon strength and speed to carry Miko and Raf through the Shadowzone to avoid getting caught by that zombie 'Con's arm, he really didn't need Red finding out he could use those abilities _here_ too.

So in the soul plane when he could no longer deprive himself of rest, he'd had Alto guard the door this time. _Much_ better did he make her guard him, and he guessed it worked since he hadn't been woken up by the feel of Red molesting him, or Alto trying her hand for that matter.

Although he did have to promise her that she could meet his mom, which is why he wasn't surprised when Alto materialized in the room. He heard growling and looked over his shoulder to see Basilisk snarling at the sight of Alto, who stared back at him unfazed. "Call off your mutt." She said coldly.

Jack rose from the table and approached the dog before dragging him away from the kitchen. "Look boy, you can't attack her; she's…my friend. If there was any other demon in the house I'd let you have a go at them though." He said and that seemed to sate the hound. The teen made his way back to the table and he felt Alto attach herself to his arm.

"So, where's your mom?" she asked.

Jack was about to reply when he saw his mother walk down the stairs, already dressed in her hospital scrubs for work. The woman stopped short at the sight of the green-skinned demoness, but just blinked before looking at Jack pointedly. "She's s a hitchhiker you could say." Jack said shrugging one shoulder. "She's one of my weapons."

"Should I expect any more demons to materialize?" June questioned and glanced around like she was expecting that to happen.

Alto grinned, but kept her mouth shut since she knew speaking about Knock Out wasn't going to do _anyone_ any favors. Her master's mother knew about demons, but she didn't know about the aliens? Oh, this wasn't going to end well. "I'm the only one; my name is Alto."

June nodded, looking a little warily at her. "My name is June."

"Yes I know." Alto said and her grin widened, the Cheshire cat grin deeply disturbing June further as she thought Alto might go for the neck, making her even _more_ uneasy about the demoness being so close to her son's. "Without you I wouldn't have Jack here." She said looking down at the black-haired teen.

Jack flushed and glanced wildly at the clock. "Oh look at the time, you need to go Alto, and I need to get to work." He said chuckling nervously before pulling Alto towards the garage. He glared at her once they were inside the extra unit. "What was that about?"

"Your mother doesn't know, so she's going to be angry if she ever _does_ find out." Alto pointed out.

Jack stared at her for a moment, taking the time to silently acknowledge this fact before deepening his glare and Alto took the hint to dissipate and the teen walked over to Arcee. "So, you can go back to your base, I'm gonna be at work all day anyway." He said shrugging and grabbed a hold of his guitar case before slinging it over his shoulder.

A mistake like not stopping Miko from running after the 'Bots or even leaving his guitar behind was not acceptable and he wasn't going to make that mistake again.

"Really?" Arcee questioned sounding dubious. "What if something happens?"

Jack smiled in placation. "Arcee, I'm a big boy; I've survived in the Demon World, took on Scarecrows and even before all that I survived being hurt physically like you wouldn't believe." He said this somewhat more sourly, as he _had_ been hurt badly, but the point was that he was still _going_.

"What if it isn't something you can't handle?" Arcee shot back.

"Look, I'm truly touched that you care about me; really, I am." Jack replied and blushed. "But like I said; I'm a big boy, I can handle one day."

Besides, what's the worst that could happen in just one day?

* * *

><p>"I've been thinking…"<p>

"Oh frag, not this again." The blue mech said crossing his arms.

"What?" Knock Out retorted indignantly. "I was just…speaking aloud."

"Of course you were." Breakdown said sarcastically. "I've said it before, twice now, go out there and get him; I'm tired of hearing you complain about this."

The red mech looked affronted. "I'm not _complaining_." He hissed. "And besides," he muttered, "I don't know _how_ to find him; tracking doesn't exactly work with a bond only partially formed."

"Seeing as that organic's not showing up on the alert, just wait until he does and _then_ go and find him." Breakdown said like it was the simplest thing in the world.

Knock Out stared at him for a moment before looking over at said monitor. "He'll only show up if he's angry, and he's pretty level-he-" The monitor beeped and showed the spot where a Decepticon signal had appeared. "Ah, it seems it's one of those times." He said to himself before marching his way to the location of the ground bridge.

"What are doing?" The blue mech questioned.

"Going to claim what's mine." _'Now Alto and Arcee won't have any claim on him. He's _mine_ now.'_

* * *

><p>Though Jack was certainly thinking of 'hulking out' so to speak, he restrained himself as he knew his Autobot friends probably wouldn't approve of him shoving Vince through a wall. Not to mention it would bring unnecessary attention to himself. He kept his eyes on the stove as he heard the jeering from over the counter as he got the order ready.<p>

But this still didn't stop him from getting angry.

His free hand itched for the familiar feel of his bow, but again, doing something to bring attention to himself wasn't going to do any good. Thankfully his shift was going to be over soon and he wouldn't have to deal with anymore of his classmates coming to mock him and the other students who worked here.

Though just because he _had_ to accept the jeering didn't mean he _wanted_ to be passive. His demon side screamed at him to teach them whose boss, but he reasoned with that part of him that _nothing good would happen if he did just that._ It was almost as exhausting than listening to Vince call him a loser for the 50th time.

At least with the demon he knew he could at least _reason_ with it, even if it was a little strange to think of it as a separate entity despite the fact it _wasn't_.

Jack flipped the burger for the last time and scooped it up and into the burger bun where the rest of the condiments had been added. He wrapped the burger up and put it into the meal bag before walking over to the counter and set in front of the redhead. "Here's your meal." He said coldly before turning on his heel and to the punch-out sheet. The teen took off his hat and went over to the storage closet and slung his guitar over his shoulder and made his way out of the burger joint, which _still_ made him think of Red.

Though he'd gotten used to the _idea_ of the bond and therefore Red, he hadn't gotten used to the idea that they would have to 'get it on' out _here_, in the real world. They'd only met in real life once, and that had ended up with him dying not long after. He made his way down the street, but heard the footsteps on the ground and turned back to feel something splatter against his shirt.

Jack looked down at the ketchup and the discarded burger on the ground. He gritted his teeth, but let the anger he was feeling cross his face as he looked up at Vince. "What the hell's your problem?" he hissed.

"That was for the race you made me look like an idiot in." Vince snapped.

Jack glared back affronted. "Trust me; you didn't need my help with that."

"So says you, haven't even got your lame bike with you." The redhead sneered.

Since the sword was right there behind him, the temptation that Jack felt was harder to resist and even though Vince was a jerk, he just couldn't kill him. No matter _what_ his demon half said. "Look, that race was a while ago, so just leave me alone." He said turning back on his heel, not noticing the red sports car driving along the road.

"Listen you-" Vince rushed and grabbed a hold of Jack's arm, yanking him back and the other teen glared at him, his eyes flashing red in the sunlight, but it could be just a contribution of seeing thing. An engine screech came through the air, and they both looked over at the red sports car driving at them.

Both teens separated and Jack took off, his face paling as he realized just _who_ that car was. '_I don't believe; he found me._' He thought and ran down the sidewalk, looking over his shoulder to see that Red was following after him instead of going after Vince. Oh great, just freaking _fantastic_. This is just what he needed. "Leave me alone!"

The sports car just sped up. "No, _you_ slow down!" Knock Out retorted.

"Hell no!" Jack hissed and moved faster and the red mech only sped up faster as well. Jack wouldn't get tired easily, but he knew neither would Red. He ran out of the town, thinking Red wouldn't follow him off road, but apparently a little kicked up dust didn't deter him as he _still_ followed.

Jack would have been amazed by this focus if it that focus wasn't on _him_ at that moment. He saw a cliff overhang and jumped through the cracks in the wall, curling back as far as he could, trying to calm down his racing heartbeat from the adrenaline rush. He stared warily out through the exit and saw the red sports car was sitting at the front.

"You're gonna have to come out sometime, just accept that this has to happen." He said in a tone that Jack realized was trying to be soothing.

The fact Red had _chased_ him wasn't a real good indication that he interested in Jack's opinion. But what he said still had a point; this _had_ to happen. For both of them to balance out, it had to. Jack sighed to himself before feeling his armour slide over his skin and the mask slide over his face. When he opened his eyes, he saw the white strands fall into his eyes.

Jack walked up to the entrance and let the guitar slide to the ground as he stared at the transforming mech, who stared back down at him. "Okay, we can do this." He said softly as he took his shirt off, feeling awkward, but even more so under Red's intense gaze. "Now, it's just the sparks that need to be connected, right?"

"Seeing as I'm kneeling in the sand, I don't think so." Knock Out said snorting, but Jack glared at him and moved back towards the crack in the cliff. "Fine, we'll work from there." He said grabbing a hold of Jack, shuddering at the feel of the metal in his servo. He briefly wondered what it would be like to feel the organic's skin in real life, but he wasn't going to get by that armor at this moment."

Jack saw the tendrils start to appear as he got closer to Red's chest plate, the feel of the spark through the plating making his own metal skin feel warm and he moaned, surprising even himself at how good it felt. He leaned onto the chest plate and closed his eyes, making sure to filter any information that Red could get at for the Decepticons.

Jack saw through his red haze that Knock Out was leaning on the cliff, his eyes shut tightly and letting out a silent moan. They both jerked as they felt the overload hit them and they cried out. The teen breathed heavily around his mask and he felt the pleasurable haze still in his sight. "That…that was so much more amazing in real life than I thought." He murmured closing his eyes.

He felt the second, foreign presence in him, though unlike with Alto and his demon half, this presence was _connected_ to him. It felt weird to be honest, but no weirder than how this was all possible.

Red made a noncommittal sound as he lifted his servo to Jack's side, the afterglow making every touch he made on the organic's metal skin feel even more sensitive and he knew this to be true as the teen twitched. He slid his digit down the metal skin until he hit the constricting pants Jack was wearing. "Such an obtrusive thing." He muttered and began to pull it down, but the organic smacked his digit away.

"No, not that." Jack hissed. "Just 'cause we're 'officially' bonded doesn't mean you get to go any further down my pants than in the soul plane."

"But I still got you." Red said smirking. "You're mine now."

Jack looked up at Red, their red optics and red eyes meeting as the teen stared. "You can say that, but it's never gonna change what _I_ think."

"And what is that?"

"You're just jealous."


	25. Chapter 25

25.

"Not you too." Red muttered under his breath. "Let me tell you this once organic, I will never be jealous; and do you know why?" he asked rhetorically before speaking up again. "You're _mine;_ you always _have_ been ever since that day you died."

Jack narrowed his eyes; it sounded more like Knock Out was being _possessive_ rather than jealous at the moment. And that wasn't good either because he felt the grip around him tighten a bit. But he wouldn't kill him because they would both likely die from the backlash. "So this has nothing to do with Arcee then does it?" he asked dryly.

Red scowled at him, any remaining haze in his optics gone at the mention of the femme. "You really know how to kill a mood." He hissed and Jack smirked behind his mask, which faded when he felt a digit go back to stroking his side. "And you owe me for making me chase you out into this desert and getting my paintjob all mucked up."

Jack peered up and down the mech, seeing the dust and scrapes from the upheaved rocks and dirt. "Be lucky that's _all_ that happened." He said shortly. "For you _chasing me down_, _I_ could have done a lot worse to you; you and your horrible attempt at mating."

"Hey, I _got_ you in the end didn't I?" Knock Out shot back smugly.

"Only because you brought up a good point." Jack admitted grudgingly. "Are all of you 'Cons so romantic?" he asked rolling his eyes.

"'Us'," Knock Out said patronizingly and Jack glared up at him, "your completion of our bond means you'll _always _show up as one of us instead of just when you're angry."

Jack's eyes widened. "What?" he questioned, the metallic edge in his panicked voice more pronounced. "But I don't wanna be a 'Con."

"Too bad, you're demonic heritage made sure of that." Red retorted unsympathetically.

"Well I'm not going with you anywhere if that crosses your processor." Jack said angrily.

"I'll admit that it…_has_." Knock Out said. "But I know for a fact that even though you _are_ a Decepticon, Lord Megatron would be less than welcoming of the fact you are an _organic_, and therefore weak and useless."

"So he doesn't know about me then?" Jack managed to keep his voice neutral while more panic began to set in.

"I'm going to go with 'no' because I highly doubt Lord Megatron would _not_ let this go unaccounted for." Knock Out explained. "And there's also the fact you're still on this mudball."

"You really think he doesn't know?" Jack questioned again while trying to reassure himself that maybe the 'Con leader _didn't_ know. "Not about your strangely quick self-repairs? In one of your memories I saw Starscream slash your face to see if you really did have my healing ability."

"No one's noticed." Red replied evenly before they lapsed into silence about what to do next.

"I think," Jack began, "it's time for us to part ways."

"Remember though, I can find you out here now too." Red replied before setting Jack down and started walking away while speaking into his and soon enough a ground bridge appeared.

Jack watched the 'Con leave, but not before looking back at the teen and smirking and Jack felt the smug satisfaction move along the bond to him. The teen was tempted to flip him off but knew he wouldn't even know what the gesture meant, so he didn't bother as the red mech walked into the green portal.

The dark-haired teen grabbed his shirt and pulled it on before sitting against the cliff wall and out of the sun before he let his demon form disappear, feeling the fatigue that went with changing along with it and closed his eyes to rest for a little bit before heading home.

* * *

><p>"Yo, Nero! You home?" Dante shouted rapping on the door.<p>

"Must you be so loud?" Vergil hissed in annoyance and Dante glared at him before looking back at the opening door, only it wasn't Nero who answered.

"Oh, hey Kyrie, Nero here?" Dante questioned.

Kyrie raised a brow. "I heard you yelling all the way inside, you don't need to repeat yourself." She said in a polite deadpan way.

Dante grinned and scratched the back of his head. "So is he?"

Kyrie sighed in a long-suffering kind of way. "Yes, hold on." She said disappearing back inside.

A few second later, a white-haired male appeared at the door. "What do you want old man?" he asked staring at Dante.

Dante scowled at him. "Listen _kid-_"

"Where is Yamato?"

Nero jerked back in surprise as he looked over at Vergil, whose voice had just gotten colder. "What? There are _two_ of you now?"

"Right to the chase, aren't you?" Dante muttered glancing at his brother. "This is Vergil, my brother, and uh, you kinda gave his sword."

"But-but you said I could keep it!" Nero retorted.

"You said what?" Vergil glared at Dante. "You could have given it to Jack if you were so inclined to keep it in the family."

"_What?"_ Both Nero and Dante asked, but for vastly different reasons. "Who's Jack?"/ "What do you mean by 'in the family?'"

Vergil looked annoyed at both of them before answering in the same rapid precision. "Jack is my son, and this boy is a part of our family."

Dante and Nero stared at each other before the younger man grimaced. "What do you mean we're _related_?"

Dante scowled. "What's that supposed to mean, _kid_?" he looked over at his twin. "And you, how can you tell by _looking?_"

Vergil glanced disdainfully at Nero before levelling the same look at Dane. "Because…" he paused and Dante rolled his eyes at the try at the dramatic effect, but his eyes nearly popped out with what was said next, "before Jack there was another."

* * *

><p>Jack had smelled them just as he was at the edge of consciousness and his body moved on its own and avoided the scythe that had come down on the spot he'd previously been sleeping in. Jack felt his limbs move on their own and it didn't take much of a stretch for him to realize that his demon had had taken over as he woke up.<p>

His hands grabbed the sword in the guitar case and his body cut into the first Scarecrow in the surrounding area, the body freezing over and shattering in place as he surveyed the area. There surprisingly weren't many Scarecrows, but he knew better than to underestimate anything these days.

Jack felt control be given back to him by the slight waver in his legs and the Scarecrows took this as the sign to attack, Jack dodging their scythe for hands and cutting into ones he could get at and dodging the rest, intending to take the rest out at a distance once he could take out enough.

The teen feinted to the side to avoid one of the jabs, striking back with a jab of his own, but grimaced in pain as a sudden slash cut him across the side. His eyes started to burn red and stuck his sword into the Scarecrow's chest, pulling it out and didn't even watch as it shattered, only went back to cutting the demons down.

He knew Red most likely felt the pain in the bond, but he really had other things on his mind at the moment.

_'Shit!'_ Jack scolded himself as he felt another slash into his back. He really had to _stop_ thinking. He twisted the sword in his hand and sent it back into the chest of the Scarecrow behind him before dodging a swing from another. He knew injuries were part of the job, but they still _hurt_ and they were going to hurt even more once the adrenaline wore off.

The teen used his enhanced agility to move around the other Scarecrows before jumping onto the ledge on the cliff and whispered the transformation words, the sword turning into a bow. Jack pulled back the taut string and fired, shot after shot. His aim wasn't the greatest in the word, and a lot of the shots hit the demons in the arms or legs, but a few lucky ones hit the chest and he just _kept_ firing until they were all gone.

Jack let out deep breaths as the rush of bloodlust wore off and his eye turned back to blue. He gritted his teeth at the stinging in his back and side, knowing he had to get it cleaned of whatever sand or what not might have gotten into it. He jumped down to the spot his things were at and found his cell phone in the sand, checking the time and seeing that it was around the time his mother got done her shift at the hospital. She tried to get home early on weekends so she could spend some time with him before going back for her late shift.

And Jack appreciated the gesture, but he just couldn't go home at this time, because with Vergil out who knows where she was probably worried sick about him and Jack didn't want her to get even _more_ worried. He saw the guilt in her eyes when she had to patch him up before and just couldn't put her through that again.

Jack gathered up his things and took off for the Autobot silo, because there was still human supplies he could use to clean out the wounds. He grimaced as he felt the blood come away from the wound on his side; yeah, Arcee was probably gonna freak out about this one. _Especially_ after how he said nothing _would _be wrong with leaving him alone for the day.

The teen didn't pay attention to the stinging in his side and back, nor did he pay any attention to the annoyance and frustration coming across the bond. He was probably gonna get it in the soul plane later, and unlike out here there would be _no_ hiding. Jack averted his eyes as he saw how close he was getting to the silo in the mountain and used his hearing to tell how far the distance was before stopping and only opening his eyes once he was sure he was inside. Or hopefully inside anyway.

He peered through his lashes at the dark cavern leading into the base and continued on walking. Jack didn't stop until he found the storage area and concentrated on bringing out Alto. He felt a hand on his shoulder and glanced over to meet red eyes and let her lead him in and he sat down on a crate as he watched her use her nose to bring the disinfectant over.

Jack knew it wouldn't take long for the others to find them, so he took his shirt off and let Alto get to work. He felt her surprisingly gentle and professional hand wipe the blood off his side and from the actual wound. The applying of the disinfectant stung, but he gritted his teeth and tried to ignore it. The bandage to prevent further bleeding came next.

"Thank you," he said softly, "I know you being around my blood must not be easy."

"It's not." Alto agreed looking down at the bloodied swabs. "But I've had many, _many_ years to control myself. I can always inhale your shirt anyway." She said shrugging.

"Hey, I found Jack! He's in here with some green lady!"

Jack rolled his eyes and Alto snorted. The teen looked up at Miko. "Miko, this is Alto's real form." He said and the girl's eyes widened.

"No way, you look even cooler than before!" Miko gushed and Alto grinned, though it was somewhat dimmed by what she was currently tasked with.

"Look away, girl. What I'm about to do next ain't pretty." Alto said and Jack furrowed his brow.

"What are talking about-ahhh!" Jack exclaimed as he felt something sharp stick into him. "What?!"

"You've got some shrapnel in your wound, and since there aren't any tweezers on hand, I'm using my finely sharped claws, er, _nails_." Alto said with a strain in her voice.

Jack glanced up from the corner of his eye as he heard the whine of a canon and saw Arcee aiming at Alto. "Don't Arcee, she has to do this. If she doesn't get everything out it'll get stuck there." He explained and gritted his teeth. Though Alto was lot less gentle than Vergil had been. Then again, the man had been using his _claws_ and not _nails_ to dig the shards out.

Either that or the shards were further in this time.

"I'm almost done, hold your horse femme." Alto snapped as she plucked the last shard out and started to disinfect.

"How did he get like this?" Arcee demanded.

Alto snorted. "Things got a little rough out in the desert. It happened after they bonded."

"Knock Out did this?!" Arcee questioned in outrage and Miko stared at Jack, mouth agape.

"You hung out with a 'Con?" she asked, torn between awe and disbelief. "Is it because you are one?"

"No, and no." Jack replied. "We didn't _hang out_, and I got into a fight with some Scarecrows." He replied reluctantly and didn't need to look at his guardians gaze to know what she was thinking.

He was wrong; he didn't need to be told so.


End file.
